Ore no Koori Koushi
by Tsuki-no-Kurokage
Summary: AU He is of royal blood while the other, of barbaric blood. One is a crown prince while the other, a warrior. Whoever says that a crown prince and a warrior can't be friends? Or more...? Insane IchiHitsuness. Undergoing major revamp.
1. Two Different Worlds

俺の氷皇嗣Ore no Koori Koushi

Author's Note: Hi! And welcome to this insane HitsuIchi fic! (It's insane, I tell you, really insane) Anyway, the title means 'My Ice Crown Prince' in Japanese, in case you're wondering. The term for crown prince, _koushi_, also has another way of saying it, which is _kou tsugu_. I think _koushi _is cuter. XD

Japanese terms – _koushi _crown prince, _koutei _emperor, _kouhou _empress, _ishi _physician.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything concerning Bleach. I only own the plot.

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Scroll One – Two Different Worlds

The sun's rays were shining brightly across the peaceful lands of the famous Karakura Capital. It was the capital of the mythological plot of land known by all as Seireitei where the residents were kind and helpful souls (not literally). Even though Seireitei was swarming with people, very few traders and travellers from other countries and states came to visit it, therefore some of the residents felt that life was quite dull there while the others prefer to live quietly in secret without anyone else knowing that they were there in the first place.

The most definite thing which was agreed by all was the fact that Seireitei would most probably be the happiest, largest and most peaceful state in the whole of its country, Soul Society, otherwise nicknamed by the teasing residents as _Tamashii (souls)._ Tamashii had been divided into many different districts and states known as Rukongai altogether. Most Tamashii nationalists stayed in Rukongai because in certain states, there was no such thing as law enforced rules; just freedom. The people loved going wild there and the government didn't do anything to stop them because the warm-hearted _koutei _insisted that there should be at _**least **_a place where wild and fun-loving people lived.

In the class system of Tamashii, everyone was seen as an equal being other than two exceptional cases – the royalties and the samurai warriors. The warriors were known as shinigami and there was an estimated number of a million shinigamis in charge of guarding the palace and the royalties, as well as protecting Tamashii from any invaders. The shinigamis had their own class system as well. At the top was the soutaichou who was the appointed commander of all shinigamis to help carry out the _koutei's _orders. Right below him were the taichous of the respective thirteen divisions – the Gotei 13 – who gave commands for their own divisions of equally-appointed shinigamis, followed by the fukutaichous who lent a helping hand whenever their taichous needed it. At the end would be all the unranked shinigamis who would have to obey their superiors' commands at every whim.

As for the royal class system, there was none, for the _koutei _strongly insisted on treating everyone as equals, even the maids and servants working in the palace. The current _koutei_ at that point of time was probably the kindest and most considerate _koutei _in the long line of emperors who ruled over Tamashii. His poor wife, his _kouhou_, had died from leukaemia a few months after giving birth to their son, the next heir to the throne. He had no intention to get himself another _kouhou, _because to him, there would forever be only one _kouhou _in his heart, his poor heartbroken heart. His only son, his _koushi_, was the only next-of-kin he had so he had pampered the young prince with fabulous and expensive gifts, and showered him with lots and lots of love and affection. Behind the optimistic mask of the _koutei_, the residents knew, there was only a shell of sorrow.

The sun's rays were shining brightly across the peaceful lands of the famous Karakura Capital. It was the capital of the mythological plot of land known by all as Seireitei where the residents were kind and helpful souls (not literally).

And that was where _**their **_story began to unfold…

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"Ichi-nii, are you serious about taking the shinigami entrance exam?" the raven-haired girl asked her older brother, kicking her coconut around randomly.

"Ah," her orange-haired brother replied with the usual frown on his face. "I don't wanna stay at home and laze around in school twenty-four seven. I wanna protect the people, Karin."

Karin looked at her brother with a bored look. "Oh yeah? Like who?"

"Like…like…you, Yuzu and Dad!"

Karin scoffed as she kicked the ball-like coconut back into the hut where her family lived. She folded her arms and looked away from Ichigo's gaze. "They don't let just anyone to take the exam, Ichi-nii. You know Ishida Uryuu, don't you?"

Her brother blinked and stared at her. "Yeah…He's my classmate and he sits right in front of me."

"He went to take the exam and got disqualified because he's from the state of Zaraki, like us," Karin replied as-a-matter-of-factly.

"So? I know that! That's why I gotta go and show 'em that the Zaraki people like us can be brave warriors like them too!" her brother retorted angrily.

"Even if you _**do **_qualify, Ichi-nii, will Dad agree to it?" Karin asked challengingly, raising an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about, my dear daughter Karin?!" a muscular man (cough cough) with chest hair sticking out from his tattered shirt exclaimed. He tromped over to his orange-haired son and collided with him, embracing his son in a death hug without warning. "Of _**course **_I'll let Ichigo go! He's going to do us proud! You should be happy for him, Karin!"

"Get off me, old man!" Ichigo demanded, struggling to push his insane father off him.

His father got off him and helped him up…

…before giving him a spine-cracking hug.

"Oh, Ichigoooooooo…" Isshin cried, unwilling to let go of his suffocating son. "I'm so happy! I hope you'll pass with flying colours and do us proud!"

"Yeah…that's nice, old man…" Ichigo replied sarcastically as he pushed his father off him with all his might and stretched his muscles numbed from the two death hugs. "Well, I'll be going now."

"What?!" Karin exclaimed as she kicked the coconut and sent it flying towards her brother's direction. Ichigo spun around and got hit in the face instead. Falling on his back, Ichigo groaned as his violent sister picked up her 'soccer ball'. "You're leaving _**now**_?! You still haven't told Yuzu about it yet!"

Ichigo went back on his feet and dusted himself. "Well then, tell her when she gets back from picking herbs from the hills. I gotta go and hurry before they disqualify me for being late."

"Go on ahead, my son!" Isshin encouraged Ichigo by pulling out his handkerchief and swinging it like a sissy with tears streaming down his face anime-style. "I'll always be here waiting for you!"

Ichigo turned around and waved goodbye before muttering, "And I'll always be here kicking you in the face…"

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"Ukitake-koutei! Ukitake-koutei!" the blond girl clad in a pink kimono with a magenta obi (sash) exclaimed as she ran up to the long white-haired man who was wearing the royal navy blue robes. The obi was of an even darker shade of the blue and at the back of the attire was an embroidery dragon which had been sewed with bright light blue thread. On top of his head was a short crown-like hat which had been decorated with gems of all sorts. The blond girl bowed down with respect. "Ukitake-koutei, the _ishi _said that you have to rest well in bed. I…I'm afraid that Ukitake-koutei, you, will…will…"

Smiling light-heartedly at his personal maid, Ukitake patted her on the head. "Now, now, Kiyone, don't think so negatively."

"_G-go…gomenasai_, Ukitake-koutei…" Kiyone apologised as she bowed once more.

"Ukitake-koutei!" a jet black-haired boy with a headband of some sort tied around his forehead yelled. He was wearing a light grey kimono with a hint of dark blue and the obi was the same shade of bluish grey. "Ukitake-koutei, you shouldn't be walking around! The _ishi_ said that-"

Before he could continue, Kiyone interrupted him rudely, "Sentarou! How dare you repeat what I have just told Ukitake-koutei! Are you trying to gain favouritism?!"

Sentarou glared at Kiyone. "You're one to talk! Who asked you to come to Ukitake-koutei and relay _**my **_message to him?!"

"Why you…!"

Sweat dropping at the scene, Ukitake sighed at his two personal royal servants of the palace. He stepped in between the two arguing servants. "Um…I'm feeling hungry…Kiyone, can you help me get some porridge from the royal kitchen?" Ukitake asked on an impromptu basis, hoping that his excuse would stop the two from arguing.

"_Hai_, Ukitake-koutei!" Sentarou replied enthusiastically as he practically ran all the way in the direction of the royal kitchen.

"Hey! Ukitake-koutei asked _**me **_to do it! Get back here!" Kiyone demanded as she chased after him.

Chuckling happily, Ukitake continued on his way. He slowly took step by step in the direction of the palace gates. The scenery in the palace was welcoming with its tall and mighty trees and the fragrant flowers giving off a wonderful scent. Ukitake smiled, happy that he was able to live in such a beautiful place. The butterflies were fluttering around the flowers, preparing to suck in the nectar as food. The birds chirped as they flew from tree to tree, and tree to tree. It was a very beautiful place indeed.

If only his _kouhou _were here to enjoy the scenery…

"Koutei-otousan?"

Ukitake blinked out of his trance-like state at the voice which spoke from behind him. He smiled and turned around to come face-to-face with a young boy who was wearing the exact same kimono as he was, except of a smaller size, of course. In contrast with his kimono, his beautiful emerald orbs stood out the most if his unique white hair wasn't included as well. "Yes, my koushi-aisoku?" (aisoku – beloved son)

The crown prince – his only son – sighed and spoke, "Koutei-otousan, I bumped into Kiyone and Sentarou at the royal kitchen just now. They're making a fool of themselves as we speak, having a porridge fight of some sort."

"Oh?" Ukitake asked, raising his eyebrows in interest.

"I heard that you aren't resting up in bed when the _ishi _instructed you to, koutei-otousan," the crown prince bluntly continued. "Where are you going?"

"I'm heading off to witness the entrance exams for the shinigamis. I always get invited but I feel bad about turning them down year after year…" Ukitake trailed off, leaving it at that.

The _koushi _sighed and muttered under his breath, "You're _**way **_too kind-hearted, koutei-otousan…"

"What was that, my dear Toushirou?"

Toushirou locked eyes with Ukitake. "I asked if I can join you," Toushirou lied half-heartedly. He _**did **_want to accompany his emperor father lest his father got a fit or a serious relapse. He'd at least be by Ukitake's side to help.

His father smiled at him warmly. "Of course you can, my son."

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"What?!"

The bald grandfather resisted the urge to cover his ears with his bare hands. His braided beard literally flew around wildly at the sheer force from Kurosaki Ichigo's bellowing voice. Holding onto his staff, he spoke, "I am sorry, Kurosaki Ichigo, but as you are from the Zaraki state, I have the right to disqualify you straight away."

Ichigo couldn't believe what he had heard. He was going to get expelled when he hadn't even taken the exam yet, and it was all because he was from the state of Zaraki? It wasn't fair! No wonder Ishida tried to convince him the other day that going over to the Karakura Capital to take the entrance exam was a bad idea…He got rejected, like what everyone expected, but Ichigo wasn't going to give up that easily. He was going to get himself an exam, and he was going to _**make damn sure **_that he got himself an exam. "Wait wait wait wait wait…" Ichigo rudely requested for the old examiner to wait as he showed his palm at the examiner. "Are you saying that I can't get gain entry coz I'm from Zaraki?"

"Yes. It is clearly stated in our rules and regulations for the exam that the candidate cannot be from the Zaraki state."

"Why?! That's discrimination!" Ichigo exclaimed, banging on the table, earning himself curious glares from the shinigamis present.

"Calm yourself down, Kurosaki Ichigo!" the examiner shouted. "It has always been like this; the _**barbarians **_from the Zaraki state is not allowed to mix with those who are more civilised. We certainly cannot allow a barbarian such as you become a brave and honourable shinigami warrior."

"Oh? And why not, Yamamoto-soutaichou?" a warm and friendly voice cut in. Yamamoto, the old examiner, recognised the voice and immediately stood from his seat. As expected, the sickly white-haired _koutei _was walking in his direction with a younger white-haired boy following him with a serious frown on his face. Ukitake smiled at Ichigo and looked at Yamamoto directly in the eye. "Haven't I said it before? All of us are equal entities, Yamamoto-soutaichou, even you and me. I see everyone as an equal being, despite their status and background."

"Yes, I understand, Ukitake-koutei…" Yamamoto replied as he bowed.

Ichigo, on the other hand, was baffled by all this sudden turn of events. First, the old bastard didn't let him take the entrance exam. Then, the _**KOUTEI **_came and put in a word for _**him**_, a person from the Zaraki state, and now the old examiner would most definitely let him take the entrance exam! It was too good to be true!

"Oi," a sharp voice shook him from his trance. Ichigo blinked in confusion as his eyes landed on the young prince whom he didn't recognise as the _koushi_, of course. "You there, with the orange hair, aren't you going to thank koutei-otousan?"

…

Koutei-otousan…?

"Now, now, my little Shirou-chan, don't be rude to the candidate," Ukitake warmly reprimanded his son, placing a hand on his shoulder. He then looked at Ichigo, the smile still on his face. "What's your name, child?"

"Ku…Kurosaki Ichigo, _koutei_," Ichigo replied with respect, even though he didn't bow. Yamamoto, Toushirou and the shinigamis present were glaring at him for not showing enough sincerity, even if Ukitake didn't mind it.

"I see. Well, Ichigo-kun, we'll be watching you. I hope you pass with flying colours," Ukitake gave his best regards.

He was about to take his leave when Ichigo stopped him. "W-wait, _koutei_! I gotta ask you something!"

Toushirou shot daggers at him once again for being rude to his father. Ukitake was curious, on the other hand. "Anything, Ichigo-kun."

"I have a friend in the Zaraki state who goes to the same school as I do," Ichigo began his request. "His name is Ishida Uryuu. He can be a bastard sometimes, but he really wants to take the exam. He got rejected last year because he is from the Zaraki state. I hope you can let him take the exam this year."

There was a pause. A very awkward pause.

…Then…

Ukitake started _**laughing**_.

"So that's all you wanted to ask?" Ukitake chuckled light-heartedly. "It's not a big deal, Ichigo-kun. I'll notify your friend immediately. Yamamoto-soutaichou," Ukitake called.

"_Hai_," the elderly responded.

"Please inform Ishida Uryuu-kun about his participation in the entrance exam. We will extend the exam date to next Monday." With that, Ukitake turned to face his grumpy son. "Let's go, Toushirou." His son only grunted in reply as he waited for his father to walk on ahead in front of him first. Turning to give Ichigo one last icy glare, he left with his father to return to the palace.

Ichigo scratched his head at the crown prince's strange behaviour. "Um…Old dude-"

"It's Yamamoto-soutaichou," Yamamoto corrected, trying to contain his anger. "You'll have to address everyone by his or her title if you want to be a shinigami."

"Ok…Yama-jii then." Yamamoto felt like throwing the ink slab towards Ichigo but he let it slide on account of Ukitake's orders. Ichigo continued, "So, Yama-jii, who's _**that **_cocky lil' kid over there? The shorty with the white hair?" All eyes were on Ichigo. Even Yamamoto was so shocked that he dropped his brush and stained his paper with ebony black ink. Ichigo felt rather uneasy having so many people staring at him. "…What? Was it something I said?"

A shinigami with spiky red hair and weird black markings on his face walked up towards him and tapped him on the shoulder. When Ichigo turned to face him, he noticed that the red pineapple dude had a strap of some sort on his left arm, and on it was a piece of wood or something. "Yo, I'm Abarai Renji and I got some tips for you. You know, if you wanna become a shinigami, you gotta learn the most basic rule of being one."

"Which is…?" Ichigo dumbly asked.

The red pineapple whacked him on the head, a vein clearly seen throbbing on his head. "Baka! The most basic rule is mannerism!"

Rubbing his head as he moaned in pain, Ichigo grunted, "What? The kid _**is **_short!"

"Do you _**know **_who he is, you baka?!" Renji exclaimed, not brave and daring enough to point at the fading figure of Toushirou.

"Uh…no?"

"He's the crown prince! The _koushi_!"

"…Uh-huh and so?" Ichigo asked, not really getting the facts into that thick skull of his.

Renji slapped himself on the forehead. This guy was hopeless! "You know…The only son of Ukitake-koutei!"

"Yeah…and _koutei _said that we should all be treated as equals, shouldn't we?"

"For the citizens and warriors like us, yes, but when Ukitake-koutei said something about treating everyone as equals, we should never compare our lowly selves with the royalties like them!" Renji exclaimed the fact. "Even if that's Ukitake-koutei's orders, we just can't see Ukitake-koutei and Hitsugaya-koushi as people equal to our status."

"Wait…I thought you said they are father and son, so why is the lil' kiddo called Hitsugaya-koushi?"

Another shinigami who overheard their conversation stepped in. She had jet black hair, and with that, she had compatible violet eyes. "You mean…you don't know?"

"Yeah, and I don't know you too."

**WHUMP**

"That was for being rude. I'm Kuchiki Rukia," Rukia introduced herself. "Anyway, Ukitake-koutei's son is Ukitake-koutei's only son because the _kouhou _passed away a few months after the _koushi's _birth. The _kouhou's _family name is Hitsugaya and since Ukitake-koutei decided that in remembrance of the _kouhou, _as well as not getting the _koutei _and the _koushi _mixed up, he asked all of us to refer to his son as Hitsugaya-koushi."

Ichigo nodded in understanding at Rukia's explanation. "Ok…So does the kiddo take after his father's family name or his mother's?"

"The _**koushi**_," Rukia emphasized while Renji was sighing away in hopelessness. "takes after Ukitake-koutei's family name in reality, but the _koushi's _pet name will take after the late Hitsugaya-kouhou's family name."

"Plus, we all got into the habit of calling him Hitsugaya-koushi," Renji added. "I mean, hey, even Ukitake-koutei agrees that the name Hitsugaya Toushirou has a nicer ring to it."

Ichigo glanced at where father and son were before they left, and a mischievous grin found its way to his face.

Hitsugaya Toushirou…eh?

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A/N: From now on, I shall refer to Tou-chan as Hitsugaya. I just referred to him as Toushirou in this chapter because if I suddenly refer to him as Hitsugaya, it wouldn't make sense to everyone just yet. I needed to get by with the explanation first.

I'm not sure what the Japanese royalties used to wear…so I just made something up on the spot for the characters to wear. Like I said, it's insane, so don't take the historical facts seriously. …It didn't even happen in history…I'm going bonkers, but what the heck.

I also don't know where I got the idea for writing 'koutei-otousan' and 'koushi-aisoku'. I just find them cute. XD

Please review! I need some constructive feedback! _Onegai! _Now for the preview for the next chapter…

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"_Yo, Ishida! You all ready for the entrance exam?"_

"_Hmph. Unlike you, Kurosaki-kun, I came prepared."_

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"_Come, my koushi-aisoku, don't look so glum. The entrance exams are about to start."_

"_Koutei-otousan…Why won't you let __**me **__take part in the entrance exams too?"_

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"_Yoz! You're the little shortie, Toushirou!"_

"_It's Hitsugaya-koushi!"_

"_Don't be such a party pooper, Toushirou!"_

"_I am not being a party pooper, you lowly strawberry. And for the last time, it's Hitsugaya-__**koushi!**__"_

**＜ブリーチ＞**


	2. The Shinigami Entrance Exam

Author's Note: Oh wow, arigatou for the reviews and/or favorites and/or alerts! I really appreciate them!

A little note…you may have noticed that I don't use much vocabulary and descriptions. That's because I'm gonna keep things simple, therefore rating is thus, but I'm considering about changing it to T because of language and minor violence. XD

Disclaimer: Read previous chapter.

Just want to clarify things: Blah – normal; "blah" – speech; _blah – flashback/dream/Japanese words; "blah" – thinking; _**blah – sound effect; "blah" – remembering speech from flashback, dream or anyone; **_**blah and "blah" - emphasizing**_

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Scroll Two – The Shinigami Entrance Exams

As Ukitake had extended the exam date to the following Monday, Ichigo reckoned that he and Ishida had more than enough time to get ready for the big day. The _koutei _had offered all exam candidates free-of-charge rooms at the Shunpo Hotel, the largest and most luxurious hotel in the whole of the state of Seireitei, not to mention the most expensive. One room for one night could probably cost up to say, a million yen (A/N: Which is I don't know how much in S'pore dollars…). Of course, Ukitake was the one who wanted to pay for their hotel charges, but the hotel manager strongly insisted that he need not pay, for it was to do a good deed for the future heroes of the state. Ichigo was euphoric to get the chance to stay in the most expensive and majestic hotel for free.

When Ichigo opened the door to his hotel room, he could've sworn his eyeballs must've fallen out and popped themselves back in the sockets. The curtain was lined with gold thread, and the window grilles were manufactured with the sturdiest of steel. The king-sized bed consisted of the softest mattress and pillows as well as a blanket made of pure silk. What was more was the television set right in front of the bed with all the channels in the world. He had never seen a television set before. It wasn't because he was too poor to afford one; he didn't even know that in their days, television sets had already been invented. How Tamashii got hold of the stock, he would never know, unless he managed to guess that they imported them from other countries. The room itself was larger than he could imagine and was probably enough to squeeze twelve people inside without being deprived of oxygen.

Long story short, this was _**definitely **_the best hotel in the whole of Tamashii!

He couldn't wait till Ishida gets the news and come here; he was itching for another fight with that weird archer. The first time they fought was when they were five; Ichigo swung his stick around carelessly while Ishida would own him with a slingshot. In the end, Ichigo ran over to his mom, crying. The second time was on the first day of elementary school. Ishida still carried his slingshot around with him and Ichigo poked fun at him for not having the guts to start up a fight. Two seconds later, Ichigo ran home with tears streaming down his face and a huge bump on his forehead. The third time was the day before Ishida decided to go to Karakura Capital to take the entrance exam. He and Ichigo had a duel during archery lesson; with Ichigo returning home with bloody cuts all over his face and body, as well as a nosebleed which came with the package, and his continuous muttering of 'bastard'.

Grinning at the memories, even though he was the one who always lost in the end, Ichigo lied down on his bed with his hands on the back of his head. He was certain that he would defeat Ishida this time; a shinigami warrior's weapon-of-choice had always been a sword. Ishida even admitted that he was not good at sword fighting for he would usually either lose his grip on the hilt or worse, not able to swing properly and cut himself. Ichigo nearly laughed at the imaginary sight of minced Ishida – before he grimaced and felt like throwing up.

"Kurosaki-kun," the sharp voice penetrated the silence. Ichigo blinked. That sounded like…

"Ishida?!" Ichigo exclaimed as soon as he turned around. Pointing an accusing finger at the archer, Ichigo shouted, "_Teme (bastard)! _How'd you get here so fast?!"

Ishida Uryuu fished out his trusty slingshot and hurled a rock – not a pebble, not a stone, but a _**rock**_ – towards the orange-haired teenager. As Ichigo moaned in pain, Ishida repositioned his spectacles and scoffed, "There's such a thing as transport, baka. I didn't walk here unlike someone who did."

"Oi! You're implying me?!"

Another rock, another moan.

"Who else but you, Kurosaki-kun, would be such a blockhead to _**walk **_here?" questioned Ishida, even though he didn't mean it as a question. Muttering a curse under his breath, Ichigo rubbed his head and folded his arms across his chest.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

When morning quickly came on the exciting day of the entrance examinations, Kurosaki Ichigo couldn't help but feel that something was seriously whacked up with the sundial. How could it be Monday so quickly?! It felt like as if it had only been five minutes! It was already time for the exams, at that, and hell, he didn't do anything to prepare himself! He knew he shouldn't have pissed Ishida off so many times over the weekends…

Speaking of Ishida, where the hell was he?

Ichigo leaned against the windowsill and peered through the transparent glass. Below him was the familiar blue-head wearing an informal kimono, repositioning his spectacles and reading a scroll or two. Ichigo smirked and rushed downstairs in his kimono-like pajamas. Nearly bumping into the hotel staff, the orange strawberry came to the small garden where Ishida was and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting, "Yo, Ishida!" Ishida looked up from his scrolls and turned to face the running Ichigo. Panting a little but still smirking, Ichigo asked, "You all ready for the entrance exam?"

Ishida scoffed, "Hmph. Unlike you, Kurosaki-kun, I came prepared."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, smarty-pants. I get the idea." Eyeing the scrolls in Ishida's possession, Ichigo proceeded to shoot him a question, "The shinigami entrance exams won't include written stuff, _teme_. Why the hell are you studying so damn hard for?"

Displaying his fetish for repositioning his spectacles, Ishida then retorted with another question that Ichigo didn't know how to answer, "And how do you know exactly the exams won't include written exams, Kurosaki-kun?" Ichigo opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out, and he closed it like a goldfish. Ishida smirked at the stumped reaction from Ichigo. "Well then, I'll tell you the exam formats. First off, all candidates will have to report to the Karakura Battle Stadium when the sundial reads ten a.m. and according to alphabetical order, one of the candidates will have to display his _**specialization**_." At that, Ishida's smirk grew like as if he had known what Ichigo was thinking.

Looks like catching up to Ishida Uryuu would be milestones away for Kurosaki Ichigo…

"…Define specialization, Ishida," Ichigo requested, hoping that it wasn't what he expected.

"For example, if you were to take the practical exam right now, you'd be using a sword, whereas I would be using a bow and arrows since I _**excel **_in that," Ishida emphasized, obviously taking his archery skills into pride.

"…Damn you, Ishida."

Ignoring the curse directed at him, Ishida continued, "After that, they conduct the written examinations to test you on the topics of swordsmanship, defending Tamashii and so on and so forth. Finally, the soutaichou and all the taichous of the Gotei 13 will interview you and since the _koutei _and the _koushi _will be witnessing the entrance exams this year, they'll also be present for the interview." Remembering the kind-hearted Ukitake-koutei and the cocky kid of a son, Ichigo felt more confident and less confident at the same time. More confident, because he knew that the _koutei _would be on his side for he was a Zarakian. Less confident, because the _koushi _already had a bad impression of him due to his improper conduct. Somehow, Ichigo felt that he was going to fail the interview, with the soutaichou on the _koushi's _side as well. Ishida continued, "If you pass in all three aspects, the soutaichou will call you back for one last interview and short survey to determine which division of the Gotei 13 you will belong to. That's about all to the entrance exam."

Staring at him wide-eyed, Ichigo's eyebrow twitched. He sighed for his fate that would be doomed soon after…

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"Ukitake-koutei!" Kiyone acknowledged his majesty as she bowed. "Yamamoto-soutaichou sent me here to inform you that the shinigami entrance exams will begin in five minutes' time!"

Ukitake smiled at his servant. "Thank you, Kiyone. Please inform Yamamoto-soutaichou that I will be there when my Toushirou-aisoku is ready."

Her eyes sparkling with elation, mainly because the idiot Sentarou wasn't there to steal the limelight from her, Kiyone bowed once more. "_Hai!_" she replied as she turned and rushed off.

Ukitake chuckled at his personal servant's enthusiasm. He then stole a glance at his son's bedroom, wondering why his precious baby was taking such a long time. Hitsugaya was usually one who was punctual for nearly everything. Nearly. He hated taking royal baths _**with his father**_ but that was a different story. Ukitake decided that he should go in and see what Hitsugaya was up to. Just in case. He knocked on the door of his son's room, and called out, "Toushirou? My koushi-aisoku? Are you ready?" When there was no reply, Ukitake then asked, "May I come in?" Taking silence as a yes, the white-haired _koutei _opened the door.

Now, if you thought Shunpo Hotel was glamorous enough, wait till you see the _koushi's _room.

The room was about one quarter the size of a football field, which had not been constructed during that point of the ancient times, and the ground was carpeted with the smoothest of tiles and the cleanest of floor mats. Even the pillars supporting the ceiling were made with the best materials that could be found in the whole of Tamashii. Ukitake walked towards the left where Hitsugaya's bed was located. The bed was twice the size of the bed that could be found in Shunpo Hotel's rooms, and a translucent golden net hung from the top of the bed. The mattress was made of the finest of golden silks and so were the pillows and the blanket. Ukitake peered through the translucent net and saw the familiar outline figure of his son…and his hair. He went over and pulled the net back like a curtain, scaring Hitsugaya a little as he jolted back and his head snapped to see who had raised the net. When he saw that it was only his father, he mentally heaved a sigh of relief, and muttered, "…Koutei-otousan."

Noticing the sorrow, even at its slightest, in his son's voice, Ukitake's face fell and he sat next to Hitsugaya. Smiling falsely, he spoke softly, "Come, my koushi-aisoku, don't look so glum. The entrance exams are about to start."

Initially, he figured that mentioning the entrance exams would cheer his son up since it was the first time the _koushi _would be witnessing such a big event, but to his shock, his son looked even sadder than before and even looked away with a bigger frown. There was a pause before Hitsugaya muttered, "Koutei-otousan…" After that, he let out an upset – and envious?! – sigh and continued, "Why won't you let _**me **_take part in the entrance exams too?"

At the question shot by his twelve-year-old son, Ukitake's face fell once more. "…You know the exact reason why."

"But I don't understand," Hitsugaya's voice was full of bitterness. "It's not fair, father. If I have to take your place as _koutei _in the future, how am I able to make decisions to protect the country when I don't know _**how **_to protect it in the first place?"

Ukitake's face was showing utter seriousness as he looked at Hitsugaya directly in the eye. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"I don't care if I get hurt, koutei-otousan. It's to protect the people!" Hitsugaya began to protest.

"I know that, my _aisoku_, but that's not what I meant," Ukitake grimly replied. "Everyone knows that you hold the power of a _koushi_ and that's why you're in constant danger. There are people out there who want to be ruler of this country, but those who desire power are those who only care about themselves. I won't have any villains running the country, and I won't have any villains taking my only son away from me!"

Hitsugaya was speechless at first, seeing that he realized how precious he was to his father, but he still stood firm in his belief, "…What if I tell you I won't let myself get taken away, koutei-otousan?"

Ukitake sighed, "But you will someday, my koushi-aisoku. That's why I can't take the risk." At that, he paused and muttered something under his breath, and looked back at Hitsugaya in the eye. "We should go now. Let's not keep them waiting." With that, Ukitake smiled and went on ahead.

Hitsugaya stared at the ground, looking as grim as ever before he stood up and followed. Whatever his father said under his breath, he heard it perfectly.

"**I don't want you ending up like your mother."**

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"The exciting – and worth observing – shinigami entrance exam will now begin!"

Random cheers and woots and fangirl squeals could be heard from the large crowd which consisted of all the residents in Karakura Capital. It was amazing how the stadium could accommodate so many people.

"I am your emcee for the day, Kurotsuchi Mayuri!"

**Cricket, cricket**

A little desert dust ball rolled by…

The masked shinigami with golden eyes and a blotch of blue hair sticking out from the back of his head deliberately cleared his throat at the unusual silence from the crowd. His white ceramic hand clutched onto the imported microphone as he spoke, "Yes…Well, let us welcome my future test subje-I mean, the future heroes of Tamashii, the exam candidates!" Mayuri announced with false enthusiasm as he flicked his hand towards the gate, the really _**loooong**_ blue fingernail ruining the moment (A/N: Sorry, I'm doing this for humor's sake XD). The once silent crowd cheered with gusto as the candidates stepped into the stadium according to alphabetical order. Something that disappointed the crowd was the number of candidates taking the exam; the number was getting lesser and lesser with every year.

That certain year only had ten candidates.

It just showed how high the standard even for getting into the exam was, and the standard just kept getting higher and higher. Either that or there were already too many shinigamis in the Gotei 13 so the soutaichou didn't want too many fresh faces.

"Will the test subj-I mean, the _**candidates **_stand horizontally so that I am able to examine you more properly? I mean, so that the examiners are able to get this over with before I experiment on you? I mean-"

Damn.

Mayuri kept messing up.

Yamamoto couldn't take it anymore and he stood up from his seat in the panel of judges-cum-examiners, walking towards the freaky clown. "Kurotsuchi-taichou, I'm afraid we'll have to change emcees for the day."

"B-but soutaichou, my test subjects!"

"I will not tolerate any more of your scientific nonsense, Kurotsuchi-taichou. The _koutei _and _koushi _will not be pleased with your performance."

As if on cue, a pair of chestnut-eyed shinigami, one with a haori and the other with a strap to her left arm, appeared in front of Yamamoto. The taller male shinigami, who was obviously a taichou, bowed while the shorter female shinigami, who had her hair tied up in a bun, knelt on one knee as a form of respect. "I apologize for being so late, soutaichou," the captain apologized.

"It…it was my fault…" the fukutaichou mumbled as if on the brink of tears. "If I hadn't woken up so late, Aizen-taichou wouldn't be so late…_Gomenasai…_"

"I am not angry with you, Aizen-taichou and Hinamori-fukutaichou of the 5th Division. In fact, it is a timely arrival," Yamamoto simply spoke as he brushed his braided beard. "Aizen-taichou, would you like to take over Kurotsuchi's job as the emcee for the practical exam?"

At this, Hinamori became elated and she jumped to her feet, tugging at Aizen's haori sleeve. "A…Aizen-taichou! Say yes! Say yes! I know you'll do a great job!"

Smiling warmly at his fukutaichou's quick response, he patted her on the head and said to Yamamoto, "Since Hinamori-kun has so much faith that I'll do a good job, I'm willing to take over Kurotsuchi's job as emcee."

"That is good to hear, Aizen-taichou," Yamamoto replied with satisfaction. "Kurotsuchi-taichou, the microphone, please."

With a hmph, Mayuri handed the microphone (reluctantly) over to Aizen as he stomped away to take over Aizen's job as one of the judges-cum-examiners for the practical exam. Aizen accepted it with a smile as he patted Hinamori on the head again. The euphoric bun girl then rushed to take over her fellow colleague's shift as the shinigami standing guard at the gate. Aizen spoke into the microphone when Yamamoto went back to his seat, "We apologize for the inconvenience. We've had a change in emcees for the day, so I shall begin introducing myself. I am Aizen Sousuke, your new emcee for the day."

**SCREAM SQUEAL**

"AIZEN!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!" a random fangirl screamed at the top of her voice from the crowd, earning herself an envious glare from Hinamori, but the bun girl looked away as quickly as possible.

Not chuckling into the microphone, Aizen spoke once more, "Before we commence the shinigami entrance exams, we'll have the guest-of-honors taking their entrance first. Please welcome the _koutei _and _koushi _of our nation."

**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM**

**SQUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAL**

Apparently and very clearly, Ukitake Jyuushirou and his precious son Hitsugaya/Ukitake Toushirou were very popular among the Karakura Capital residents, even more so than Aizen. Everyone agreed that the _koutei _and _koushi _were just about every fangirl's dreams; one was born with a heart of gold and with an exceptionally strong will, while the other was cold and aloof but was very very cute. Some of the men who disliked having children immediately longed for children and quickly had a family of at least two children once they laid their eyes on the young prince. This obviously showed that the _koushi _had a great impact on the citizens.

And sometimes, that was _**never **_a good sign…

Hinamori Momo blinked at the _koushi _as Ukitake and Hitsugaya made their rounds of wishing the candidates the best of luck.

The white tuft of hair was so…familiar…

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"_Oi, stop ruffling my hair, Bedwetter!" the young white-haired boy ordered as he pushed her hand away._

"_Aww, why not, Shirou-chan?"_

"_And stop calling me Shirou-chan! It's embarrassing!" he protested, folding his arms with a scoff._

"_Why? It suits your fluffy white hair!"_

**＜ブリーチ＞**

Those piercing green eyes…

That short little body…

Everything about him seemed so…so…nostalgic…

Wait…he was…!

"_Shirou-chan?! What's he doing here?!" Hinamori thought to herself in a panic. "No, wait…He's the koushi?! Why didn't he tell me? And why is it that everyone knows except for me?"_

As Hinamori was trying to figure it out, Ukitake and Hitsugaya were about to come to the end of the line of candidates when the next one in line was none other than Kurosaki Ichigo himself. Ishida was to be tested before Ichigo, since it was according to alphabetical order of their family names, and when Ukitake wished him the best of luck, Ishida just knew that he was going to surpass Ichigo. He had always been surpassing his orange-haired classmate since toddler age, after all; why would this be any different? (A/N: If I'm making Ishida a little OOC with his 'proud as a peacock' attitude, I'm sorry because to me, he's pretty competitive with Ichigo and sometimes he gets a little proud…You know?)

And Ishida became even more certain when Ichigo suddenly went all informal with the royalties. "Yoz!" Ichigo greeted, raising his palm in Hitsugaya's direction. "You're the little shorty, Toushirou!"

**GASP!**

All went eerily silent in the stadium.

Ichigo's booming voice sure was _**loud **_enough for the entire crowd to hear his…rudely informal greeting. He was talking to the _koushi_, for goodness sake! He didn't seem to treat him with any respect at all! The only thing that broke the silence was the sound of Ukitake stifling his laughter. _"Come to think of it…My little Toushirou __**was **__born small…" Ukitake jokingly thought to himself, remembering the time when Hitsugaya was born._

How embarrassing…

Hitsugaya, on the other hand, the strict _koushi _was not going to let Ichigo get away with it. He let the 'short' comment slide him, just this once, but it wasn't the first time the orange-haired buffoon displayed rudeness. Damn, someone should just squeeze the discipline into this candidate's brain if he had one in the first place! A vein throbbing on his head, Hitsugaya corrected, "It's Hitsugaya-koushi!"

Grinning widely, Ichigo patted Hitsugaya on the head and ruffled his hair, which earned him some more gasps and stifled laughter from the _koutei_. Yamamoto and the various taichous were too shocked to say anything. "Don't be such a party pooper, Toushirou!"

"_This __**idiot**__…Who does he think he is?" Hitsugaya angrily thought, gritting his teeth._

"I am not being a party pooper, you lowly strawberry," Hitsugaya retorted, trying to stay as calm as possible. "And for the last time, it's Hitsugaya-_**koushi**_!"

Ichigo blinked. Did the kid just call him…lowly strawberry?

Ishida gaped at this and instantly looked away, repositioning his spectacles as he wondered, deep in thought, _"This is bad…Whoever called Kurosaki-kun a strawberry back in Zaraki ended up in the hospital for weeks…Not even __**I **__dare to call him that. Sure, Hitsugaya-koushi has power and authority over Kurosaki-kun, but I know how violent Kurosaki-kun can get when it comes to his name…"_

After what seemed like an hour, when it was only a few quiet seconds other than Ukitake's chuckling in amusement, Ichigo joined Ukitake in his fit of laughter, holding his stomach and slapping his knees as he roared in laughter. Hitsugaya and Ishida sweat dropped at his erratic behaviour while the crowd just gasped one more time. "S-straw…b-b-berry…" Ichigo managed to choke out as he laughed. "G…good one, Toushi…Toushirou!"

Hitsugaya blinked in astonishment while Ishida's jaw fell to the ground. The young _koushi _turned to face Ishida and asked, a bit bewildered, "…Does he always react like this when someone makes fun of his name?"

"N…no," Ishida honestly replied, still in shock. "He'll kick the people who call him strawberry into next Sunday…"

Hitsugaya turned back to face the laughing Ichigo with his arms folded and his eyes, half-open in a chibified manner. "Oi, Strawberry, when are you going to stop laughing?"

At that, Ichigo suddenly stopped laughing and deliberately cleared his throat, regaining his composure. It sent shock and bewilderment into everyone's systems, even Ukitake. "Sorry. Lost control of myself back there. Where were we?"

Hitsugaya nearly fell down anime-style but he just scoffed at Ichigo's reaction. "I'll let you off this time, Strawberry." Ichigo stifled his laughter. Hitsugaya ignored him and continued, "But the next time I catch you referring to me other than my title, _**I'll **_be the one who'll kick you into next Sunday. Is that clear?"

Trying to contain his laughter, Ichigo choked out, "Clear as glass, Toushirou!"

Glaring at Ichigo once more before turning away, Hitsugaya muttered, "…_Bakayaro._"

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"_Hmm…So __**that's **__the next heir to the throne…This is my first time meeting him in person," __**he **__thought to himself, rubbing his chin in interest. "I can sense a lot of powerful energy from within him…Very interesting. Very interesting indeed." He smiled in a twisted manner. "I shall have to watch him carefully…"_

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A/N: …I like how I ended this chapter. XD Ok, clarifying something again: the so-called energy that person senses is something like sensing reiatsu. Just think of it as sensing reiatsu. It's different because the people are actually alive, not in their afterlives, so they have no reiatsu. Just some energy.

You may have noticed by now that it starts off with a kinda one-sided HitsuIchi with Ichigo seemingly taking a liking to Hitsugaya (squeals). XD Don't worry, it'll slowly grow to double-sided HitsuIchi.

_Next chapter: The shinigami entrance exam begins and Ishida passes the practical exam with flying colours. Ichigo takes on the challenge but it won't be easy; he knows nothing about using the special art form of concentrating internal energy which is kidou. What's worse, kidou is an essential skill for all shinigamis and it'll determine the tick against his name. Will Ichigo make it to the written exams? And why's Aizen making a special request for Hitsugaya to try out the practical exam for fun?_


	3. The Practical Examination

Author's Note: _Arigatou _for all the reviews and/or favorites and/or alerts! I may not have that many reviews now, but with all the favorites and/or alerts, I'm already very content! _Arigatou!_

…I really changed it to T rating…Oh well. Who asked me to be so vulgar? XD

New vocab: _naiatsu – _internal pressure, _nairyoku – _internal power. It's like reiatsu and reryuku so, yeah.

Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.

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Scroll Three – The Practical Examination

"…and thank you for the amazing display of swordsmanship, Ayasegawa-kun," Aizen concluded Ayasegawa Yumichika's exam progress with the word of thanks as he flipped to the next page of the exam candidates. The feminine boy smiled and walked back in the horizontal line, knowing that his turn was already over. He glanced at his baldy of a friend and winked at him. His friend just smirked at Yumichika's way of saying good luck. Aizen scanned over the words of the document displaying the next candidate's profile and then spoke into the microphone, "Let us welcome Inoue Orihime, fifteen-year-old student of our very own Karakura High."

Squeals from the crowd could be heard as the orange-haired girl stepped out from the horizontal line. Yamamoto nodded his head at her for her to begin. Orihime pulled out her snowflake-like hairclip from her long orange hair and tossed it at the target like a sharingan. At first, the crowd wasn't very impressed and neither was the panel of judges, but she wasn't over just yet. "Koten zanshun!" she yelled and her hairclip glowed a bright orange as it flew towards the target at higher speed and sliced the dummy into half. The crowd was astounded by the way she manifested her nairyoku into her hairclip and gave a loud cheer. Orihime plainly smiled and stepped back, bowing.

Aizen seemed pretty satisfied with that kind of offensive attack as well. Not showing the interest on his face, however, he spoke, "A very nice technique, Orihime-chan. Next, we have Ishida Uryuu, fifteen-year-old student of Zaraki High, from the state of Zaraki."

There was random murmuring amongst the crowd, wondering why a Zarakian was allowed to take the entrance exam when all Zarakians had been downright rejected the previous years. Ukitake smiled instead. Hitsugaya noticed his father's smile which seemed slightly different from all the other smiles Ukitake had. Perhaps it was a true smile? "Koutei-otousan, what are you smiling at?" Hitsugaya asked.

Ukitake turned to face his son. "You will soon see, my aisoku. This boy is not of an ordinary sort, and neither is Ichigo-kun."

Hitsugaya arched an eyebrow at the statement but later scoffed it off and resumed watching the practical examination. Ishida stepped forward from the horizontal line and bowed at the panel of judges-cum-examiners. Yamamoto nodded as an indication for Ishida to begin his display of his specialization. He asked for a spare sword for Ishida to use, but Ishida kindly shook his head and explained briefly, "My specialization is not swordsmanship, Yamamoto-soutaichou. It is archery."

"Oh?" Yamamoto's eyebrows were raised. Hitsugaya just folded his arms and leaned back against his seat, waiting for Ishida to make his move. Frankly speaking, he wasn't very interested in watching Ishida, but he sure was interested to see what the strawberry had up his sleeves. "Well then, get this boy a bow and an arrow," Yamamoto ordered. The shinigami guard bowed and was about to race off when Ishida shook his head once more.

"There's no need, soutaichou. I have my bow and arrow right here," Ishida patiently stated as he folded up his long wrist-length sleeve. Ichigo blinked and stared at Ishida's wrist. There was a string tied around it and a small little ornament dangling from it. What was it? Ichigo couldn't tell; he was too far away from Ishida to tell.

The panel of judges-cum-examiners became interested and the crowd leaned forward to watch on a closer inspection. Ukitake was still smiling away while Hitsugaya was utterly unwilling to see what Ishida was about to do. From the panel of judges, Mayuri smirked. _"This boy…He's not what he appears to be," Mayuri thought gleefully to himself. "Looks like I have a brand new test subject…"_ Ishida clutched onto the cross-like ornament and closed his eyes as if concentrating on something. After a suspenseful moment, a blue bow appeared on his left hand where he was holding onto the ornament, and as soon as he opened his eyes, his right hand was holding onto a glowing and blue arrow. The crowd began murmuring in amazement. Ukitake seemed very satisfied already while Hitsugaya just arched an eyebrow and stopped caring. Mayuri's grin only widened. _"Manifesting his nairyoku into a bow and an arrow…That is something I have never seen in my entire life as the captain of the Bureau of Technology and Science. This will be a fruitful examination…"_

Ishida aimed the arrow at the target, which was a dummy filled with stuffing and a bull's eye on its tummy, and released the arrow. The bright blue arrow moved at top speed, and within less than a second, it blasted the entire dummy into lumps of charred stuffing. The stuffing-less dummy fell from the sky where it got blasted to and landed on the head of a dark-haired captain who had these girly hair accessories and a pink scarf. He pulled the dummy off his head stoically and tossed it aside with a flick of his wrist like a girl. Mayuri and another captain who had spiky black hair and an eye-patch stifled their laughter. Ishida embarrassedly repositioned his spectacles and bowed, moving back in line. "Well…" Aizen paused, grinning a little at the sight. "…that was a fantastic display from Ishida Uryuu-kun. Don't you agree, Kuchiki-taichou?"

"…" The stoic captain didn't say anything.

"Come on, Byakuya, don't be such a pissed off prissy," the spiky-haired captain teased with a toothy grin.

"…I am not being a pissed off prissy, Zaraki-taichou. Please watch your language," Byakuya solemnly spoke, closing his eyes.

Ichigo and Ishida blinked. This captain was from Zaraki and he managed to get into the exams just like they did? For a Zarakian like him to be a captain…He must be a really powerful Zarakian. Ichigo locked eyes with the cold and stony Byakuya, who didn't even flinch when he saw Ichigo. Remembering the 'stunt' Ishida pulled, Ichigo decided not to get into the bad books of Kuchiki Byakuya or else he'd instantly regret it. He stole a glance at the _koutei _and the _koushi. _It appeared as though Ukitake was struggling to contain his laughter while Hitsugaya was busy sighing away and rubbing the temples of his forehead. Was he maybe annoyed by his father's incessant laughter? Ichigo nearly smirked. _"That Toushirou is __**really **__easy to annoy, ain't he?"_

"Now, we have Kurosaki Ichigo, fifteen-year-old student also of Zaraki High," Aizen introduced and clapped, the grin not leaving his face. The strawberry stepped up and stood there like a statue, waiting for the indication from Yamamoto to continue. Now Hitsugaya showed interest; let's see what this guy's up to was the sentence that flashed in his mind.

Ukitake looked at Hitsugaya. "Oh?" He raised his silvery white eyebrows as soon as he noticed the _**really **_serious frown on his son's face. "My, my, is my little Toushirou actually feeling worried for the person who displayed such rudeness to him?"

Hitsugaya shot his father a twisted look. "…What?!"

"I mean, look at you! You look worried and concerned! Are you perhaps hoping that Ichigo-kun will pass?"

Hitsugaya blinked, not really registering what Ukitake had just said. He became so engrossed in his protest that he didn't notice that he had gone red for just a little while. "Of course I'm not, koutei-otousan!" Pouting a little, he folded his arms. "Whatever gave you that idea…?" he asked, his voice getting rather low and waning.

"You've been my son for twelve years; I can understand you by now." Ukitake's smile widened. "Don't worry, I'm sure Ichigo-kun will do just fine. You'll see; he'll pass."

"…I'm not hoping for him to pass."

"But you never said you're hoping for him to fail," Ukitake spoke in a sing-song voice.

"…Fine. I'm hoping for him to fail."

"Really…" Ukitake sighed, finally giving up on teasing his son. "You're just so stubborn…"

Meanwhile, Ichigo was waiting exceptionally patiently for the old captain to give his consent for him to start. When the soutaichou finally gave his nod, Ichigo asked for a sword for him to use. However, Yamamoto wouldn't give his consent for Ichigo to use a sword in his practical exam, making up an excuse saying that they changed the expectations for the exam at the last minute. Ichigo mentally cursed the old man while the crowd leaned forward, not able to take the suspense. Sure, it wasn't fair to the remaining candidates, but it _**was **_a decision made by the examination board through and through, so they couldn't complain. Ukitake watched seriously for once, as he did not want Yamamoto to deliberately make things hard for Ichigo. Hitsugaya silently hoped so too. The first few candidates – Yumichika, Orihime and Ishida – almost heaved a sigh of relief upon knowing that they would not be tested on the 'new' topics of the practical examinations but the remaining candidates – Ichigo, the bald friend of Yumichika called Madarame Ikkaku, a big but short man called Shiba Ganju, a young tanned woman known as Shihouin Yoruichi, her friend, who was wearing a hat, named Urahara Kisuke (A/N: I'll explain later as the story progresses), a timid boy called Yamada Hanatarou and a big but silent teenager named Yasutora Sado – felt that it was pretty unfair to them for the exam rules to be changed all of a sudden. Well, it wasn't like they had a say in things; one complain from them and out they go.

"Now we have come to a decision to not test you on what you specialize in," Yamamoto spoke. "but to test you on the basic requirement for being a shinigami. The above few candidates have already fulfilled this basic requirement: kidou." Ichigo blinked. The word sounded totally alien to him. "I will elaborate more on the use of kidou. Kidou, otherwise known as demon arts, is a basic necessity for all shinigami warriors. This is because should they lose their weapons in a case of a battle, they can only rely on their diverse knowledge of the kidou spells. The reason why we included a practical examination in the first place is to see if candidates are able to manifest their nairyoku into kidou spells. The above few candidates are able to manifest their nairyoku into their weapons-of-choice very well, thus they have passed the practical exams with flying colors." Ichigo growled at this. He knew Ishida was most probably mentally jumping up and down for joy, having had the chance of beating him already. "Now, Kurosaki Ichigo, please show us how skilled you are at manifesting your nairyoku."

Ichigo sighed in frustration. To be honest…he sucked at manifesting his nairyoku.

"Kurosaki Ichigo?"

But damn, he couldn't let them waiting forever, could he?

He closed his eyes and concentrated on manifesting his nairyoku. It wasn't easy, since he admittedly confessed that he truly sucked at that. He still couldn't see why it was so important anyway. He thought of manifesting nairyoku as some sort of soul-searching literally, and tried 'searching' his soul for the nairyoku, but of course, nothing came out. After what seemed like eternity, the crowd finally saw a little blue spark coming from…his hair?! It looked like some electrical surge or something. After a few more moments, sparks could be seen all over his body, and soon his entire body was glowing bright blue, though it was a tad bit dimmer that Ishida's bow and arrow. Aizen's voice cut in, distracting Ichigo, "That is displaying your naiatsu, Ichigo-kun, not manifesting your nairyoku." Ichigo lost concentration totally and the naiatsu surrounding him faded away as he fell to his knees, panting. It was really taxing, and all that creepy captain could say was an insult of some sort? Damn him, then. "I suppose it would be good if someone can demonstrate the correct way of manifesting nairyoku. I hope you don't mind, Hitsugaya-koushi."

Hitsugaya blinked in confusion. _"…What did he just say?"_

"Sousuke-kun, what are you playing at?" a flamboyantly dressed captain asked after taking a sip from his bottle of sake.

"Nothing, Kyouraku-taichou. I just think that it would be best if we see a vibrant display of nairyoku manifestation for the remaining candidates to have an idea of how it should be done," Aizen replied. "Your Majesty: Ukitake-koutei, would you approve of Hitsugaya-koushi demonstrating for us?"

Ukitake pondered. If he let his son go down there and showed everyone a truly magnificent display, some would really begin to envy his power and rank as _koushi_, which was what he lived in fear of. On the other hand, if he didn't let his son go down there, the residents might begin to jeer at him for being selfish and might even begin to spread rumors to tarnish his name and reputation, as well as the _koushi's._ Ukitake couldn't have that, but he couldn't have people envying his son as well. Oh, it was such a dilemma Ukitake couldn't arrive at a decision at that point of time. "…Toushirou, my _aisoku_…Do you wish to have a go?"

"…I wish to protect the people," Hitsugaya plainly replied softly, indirectly telling his father that he wanted to have a go, even though he wasn't a candidate for the exam.

Ukitake nodded and gave a fake smile. "...Alright then."

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"_So that's him? The one with the crazy naiatsu?"_

"_Yes, it is."_

"_Oh my…Just look at the way he is able to manifest his nairyoku…"_

"…"

"…_He's practically freezing everything in his way…"_

"_It's not like he can control it, you know."_

"…_A Shakkahou is supposed to be of fire, not of snow."_

"_He doesn't know what he's doing, period."_

"_Yamamoto is not a happy soutaichou…Look at all the snow on his bald head."_

"_Technically, he wouldn't be bald, would he?"_

"_Oh right, he's got snow for hair."_

**＜ブリーチ＞**

Yamamoto grunted as he shoved the snow off his head, as did the other captains of the panel of judges. An apple-like crown prince was stomping back off to his seat situated at the highest spot of the stadium, his feet trudging through the snow. Ichigo blinked, dumbfounded by how…beautiful the _koushi _controlled his nairyoku, even if it _**did **_go a little out of control during the process. Ok…so it went _**totally**_ out of control…What with the big fiery blast suddenly turning into a gigantic snowball being hurled towards the captains and the prince getting so embarrassed that he didn't realize he made winter come earlier than expected. Standing up and brushing the snow off his clothes, Ichigo stole a glance at a reddening Hitsugaya taking a seat next to the _koutei_ who was trying as hard as he could to make his son feel better and less ashamed of his performance. For such a prideful _koushi _like him, it was really embarrassing.

Aizen just seemed as satisfied as ever. "Thank you for... 'cooling' down everyone's intensity, Hitsugaya-koushi. I'm sure our muscles and hearts have calmed down," he joked, even though his bad pun earned himself cold death glares from the _koushi_. Apparently, Aizen Sousuke was at a danger zone of losing his job for offending the prince like that. Good for him. "So, Kurosaki Ichigo, are you prepared to show us your manifestation of your nairyoku?"

"_This bastard made fun of Toushirou…I'll make him pay," Ichigo thought before he mentally slapped himself. "Wait…I made fun of Toushirou too. So I make this guy pay and then make myself pay? That doesn't make hell of a sense…" _As much as Ichigo was being an idiot, the panel of judges was waiting for him rather impatiently. Scratching his head, Ichigo decided that he should think about it later and concentrate on the exam first. Remembering what Hitsugaya did when he demonstrated, Ichigo followed suit by first closing his eyes shut and clenching his fists. He then remembered that Hitsugaya's hands were glowing bright blue, and managed to figure out that he had to concentrate all the nairyoku into his hands. As Hitsugaya watched the bright blue glow of Ichigo's hands, he blinked.

The strawberry was _**mimicking **_his earlier actions.

And he was doing very well, at that.

Suddenly, Ichigo felt like the nairyoku was about to burst out from his entire being, feeling the rush of power flowing throughout his blood vessels. It felt…weird, keeping all that power bottled up and not letting it out, so he did. He let it all out. With a roar, Ichigo thrust his hands upward and a blast of nairyoku rushed towards the wall, blasting it into pieces of mere hardened cement and bits of dust. The crowd gasped. Ukitake's eyes widened at the sheer power of that blast of nairyoku. It seemed quite frightening if it wasn't handled properly. Hitsugaya just realized that the strawberry idiot was a really good cheater. (A/N: Okay…That comment kinda ruined the mood XD)

Panting, Ichigo went back into the line and leaned against the wall. It was much more taxing than his previous attempt, of course, since he managed to let it out as an insane blast. Ishida placed a hand on his shoulder as if asking his childhood friend to take it easy. Ichigo just gave the archer a rather dumb smirk and scoffed. Yamamoto gave Ichigo one last glance before looking at the score sheet and marking a tick besides Ichigo's name.

Kurosaki Ichigo had passed.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"Oi, Toushirou!" Ichigo greeted, waving his hand at the back view of the crown prince.

A vein throbbed on Hitsugaya's forehead as he spun around sharply, shooting him a death glare. "It's Hitsugaya-_**koushi**_," he replied, trying to be as calm as ever, with strong emphasis on the '_koushi_'.

"Whatever, it's still the same, ain't it?" Ichigo asked, not really meaning it as a question.

"Hn," Hitsugaya scoffed, folding his arms. "What do you want, anyway? You're supposed to be preparing for the written examinations taking place later in the afternoon."

"…Just wanted to have a decent chat with you," Ichigo half-lied. The truth was, he had clean forgotten about the written examinations because he wanted to have a chat with Hitsugaya. Oh well, he knew earlier that he was going to fail the written exams anyway.

Hitsugaya arched an eyebrow. "It's not like we have much time on our hands for a mere chat, you buffoon. I need to return to the palace with Father before the written examinations begin, and a forgetful idiot like you should be preparing for the exams right now if you want to pass, lest you forget all the studying points like how you forgot about the written examinations taking place later on."

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched. The crown prince actually saw through his half-lie! How did he do that?! It wasn't like he was a lie detector or something…was he? "Ah well," Ichigo spoke, not really intending to elaborate much on his forgetfulness. "Let's just settle for a quick one then, Toushirou."

"Hitsugaya-koushi, Kurosaki," Hitsugaya corrected, his temper getting really bad.

"Yeah, yeah."

The white-haired prince resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "What do you want to talk about? Make it snappy; I don't have time to waste."

"About earlier!" Ichigo got really pumped up and excited. "You were amazing with the nairyoku crap! You were great with the snow, Toushirou! And hey, that rhymes!"

Hitsugaya twitched uncontrollably. Not only did the orange-haired clown make fun of his name once in that certain sentence, he (unintentionally, of course) made fun of it _**twice **_in _**one **_sentence. He was not going to get away with that. "_Baka…_" Hitsugaya muttered under his breath, trying to control his anger.

"How'd you do that, Toushirou? It was really cool and when I followed you, it made one hell of a dent in the wall!"

"…_He thinks blasting the wall to bits is a mere __**dent**__? How dense can this idiot get?" Hitsugaya thought, half-wondering why he was wasting his time with an idiot like Ichigo._

"…I made it up," Hitsugaya replied honestly.

"You what?"

"I made it up. I didn't know it'd work, to be honest," Hitsugaya continued calmly, giving Ichigo a small shrug of his shoulders.

"Well…that was still some serious badass shit!" Ichigo exclaimed the vulgarities, meaning it in a _**gooooooood **_way of course.

But Hitsugaya Toushirou was not going to take any of Ichigo's vulgar words. Before he could do it, a flying fist came towards Ichigo's face and punched him right in the cheek. Ichigo groaned in pain as he held his cheek and stepped back. Hitsugaya, confused, looked to his side and saw a bun girl – a really pissed bun girl – standing there with an outstretched hand. He raised an eyebrow. This girl looked really familiar…

"Do not speak to the crown prince in that manner!" Hinamori ordered. She then turned around and nearly scared Hitsugaya with her smile. One second she was pissed and scolding Ichigo, and the next she was smiling so warmly at him. Contradiction much? "Are you okay, Shirou-chan?"

"_Shirou-chan?"_

"…Ah," Hitsugaya muttered, not really sure why the girl was suddenly asking if he was okay. Of course he was okay; it wasn't like as if Ichigo was going to pummel him to a pulp.

To his surprise, Hinamori was waving her hand. "Shirou-chan, don't you remember me?"

Hitsugaya blinked slowly, letting the nickname 'Shirou-chan' sink in for a moment. He could only remember two people who would call him Shirou-chan; one was his father and the other was… "Hi…Hinamori?" Hitsugaya asked, rather unsure.

"Oh, good! So you do remember me!" she exclaimed excitedly, clapping her hands.

"…Sure I remember you. You always wet the floor back when I was visiting the Rukongai states with koutei-otousan," Hitsugaya replied, smirking a little at the memory of a younger Hinamori getting so scared out of her wits that she couldn't stop peeing.

Hinamori pouted, her face getting red with embarrassment. "S-Shirou-chan!!! Don't tease me like that!!! I don't wet the floor now…"

"Sure you don't…" Hitsugaya mumbled, looking at the ground to avoid her gaze.

"My koushi-aisoku!" Hitsugaya turned around at the yelling voice of his father. Ukitake was walking quickly, though he wasn't running, and Hitsugaya's eyes widened.

"O-oi, koutei-otousan! Don't walk so fast!" he shouted out worriedly, running after Ukitake and stopping Ukitake from walking by gripping his wrists. "…Don't ever do that again, koutei-otousan."

Ukitake smiled light-heartedly. "_Hai, hai_, my little _koushi_," he cooed, ruffling Hitsugaya's hair. "I didn't think you'd still be here, Toushirou. Now come, we have to return to the palace immediately."

Hitsugaya gave a quick nod at Ukitake and he turned around to take one last glance at his childhood friend and a cursing Ichigo. "Oi, Hinamori!" Hinamori blinked in confusion, waiting for Hitsugaya to continue. "About last time, I'll explain it to you another day."

"Alright, Shirou-chan!" Hinamori replied enthusiastically. Oh, she could wait; in the meantime, she could spend more time reading scrolls with Aizen.

"And you might want to change out of your hakama…" Hitsugaya trailed off, hoping Hinamori didn't hear his parting words as he left the stadium with Ukitake.

Unfortunately…

Hinamori heard him loud and clear.

She looked down, hoping that it wasn't what she had expected…but it was, much to her horror. Flushing bright crimson, Hinamori gave a screech, the tears nearly spilling out of her chestnut eyes as Ichigo was laughing and pointing at her. A horrified – and amused – mother of a random child in Karakura Capital helped dry Hinamori's tears and clean up the mess she left behind.

"SHIROU-CHAN, YOU'RE SUCH A MEANIE!!!!"

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A/N: I just noticed that this chapter had hell lot of dialogue. Ack.

And I just made Hitsugaya seem like the teasing type…XD This chapter had more humor to it, no? XD (I gotta stop with the XD signs someday…)

_Next chapter: The ten candidates passed all three aspects of the entrance exam with flying colors and the divisions they have been assigned to have been determined by the survey! Ukitake holds a grand celebration for their wonderful performances at his palace ball and everyone from the Gotei 13 is invited to share the candidates' joy. This is going to be so exciting! But what's this? Ukitake learns of a horrible secret, Hitsugaya tells Hinamori all there is to tell, and…what? Cross-dressing?! Who?!_


	4. Grand Party at the Ball

Author's Note: Heh heh, everyone's so interested in the cross-dressing scene…XD It was soooo fun to write this chapter! And I hope it'll be as fun as when you read it! (High expectations but what the heck) And something's wacky with my grammar check thing so if there are any grammar mistakes, please inform me.

Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.

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Scroll Four – Grand Party at the Ball

"Ukitake-koutei," Yamamoto called to get the sickly emperor's attention before he bowed with utmost respect. Ukitake smiled and asked for the old captain to get up and dispense with the formalities when they were alone. Yamamoto simply bowed once more and thanked the white-haired emperor before taking a seat down in front of Ukitake's royal desk filled with scrolls and unfinished paperwork. "Ukitake-koutei, I have come here to notify you of the examination results."

Ukitake raised both of his eyebrows till they looked like as if they had blended with his white bangs. "Oh? You and the captains have already decided on the results that quickly? The last part of the exam ended merely five minutes ago."

Yamamoto cleared his throat deliberately. "…Let's just say that my captains are very efficient in their work." Sure, like you would call the various captains arguing non-stop and starting bloodbaths and causing Yamamoto to decide on letting all the candidates pass even if some failed just to make the captains stop with their violence 'efficient in their work'. Yamamoto shook his head slightly to get the frustrating memory out of his bald head and continued, "Ukitake-koutei, we have a one hundred percent pass this year. It's the best the Gotei 13 has ever seen."

"Really? That's great!" Ukitake exclaimed with excitement. Ten new members to the huge and vast family of shinigamis! He should throw a grand welcome party for them! "I bet my little _aisoku _will be glad to hear it. He'll be so surprised! And besides…he loves parties to death!"

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"I am _**not **_turning up. I hate parties to the core."

Ukitake Juushirou gaped. _"Ok…So maybe he __**doesn't **__love parties that much anymore…"_ Closing his wide open jaw, he put on a relaxed smile and folded his arms casually. "Well, too bad for you then. I have already decided on the stunning outfit you'll be wearing that day."

When Hitsugaya opened his mouth to protest against wearing formal party yukata, Ukitake frowned and pointed a finger at him strictly. Hitsugaya immediately closed his mouth and crossed his arms, pouting. "…Yes, sir…"

At the consent, Ukitake smiled light-heartedly. At least his son knew what discipline meant. "Good. Now, my koushi-aisoku, go and get the yukata from Kiyone. Chop, chop! We don't have time to waste!" Ukitake cooed in a sing-song voice.

Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched uncomfortably. "The party is…today?" Ukitake nodded excitedly. "…Today?" Hitsugaya asked, as if he had mistaken the nod for a shake. Ukitake still nodded. "_**To.Day.?**_" When he saw the strict but light-hearted glare from his emperor of a father, Hitsugaya gave a sigh in utter frustration. "Next time you hold a party, tell me beforehand so I can lock myself in the closet and become a dust nest till the party is over."

Ukitake comically brushed off the dust in his son's hair by stroking it continuously and gripped onto Hitsugaya's shoulders. "Very funny, Toushirou-kun. To think that you'll still resort to that even after the incident last year. I thought you were going to die from lack of oxygen."

Hitsugaya blushed and cringed at the memory suddenly flashing in his mind. He swatted Ukitake's hand away like a fly. "Aw, _touuuuuu-saaaaaaaaaaaan_!" he growled and moaned, the blush not leaving his young facial features. "You promised you wouldn't bring that up, dammit!"

"No cuss words, now, and trot along. You wouldn't want to be late for Ichigo-kun, would you?"

Hitsugaya's blush only deepened at his father's tease before he stomped away to find Kiyone. Ukitake could only chuckle at his young white-haired son's embarrassed reaction to his teasing. Figuring that he should also get prepared for the big night, Ukitake scratched the back of his head casually and went off to find Sentarou who was in charge of taking care of his formal royal yukata for the party. As he walked into the royal garden, he took in a sharp intake of pure clean oxygen and felt his lungs relax. It was such a good way to enjoy life, he decided. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder and he turned around, coming face-to-face with someone who had a creepy smile etched on his features before he felt another knock against his neck as darkness began to engulf him.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

He couldn't get his eyes back into focus. He didn't know exactly when he woke up, and neither did he know exactly how long he had been out for, but he knew that he, Ukitake Juushirou, was in danger. Perhaps his worst fear had come true, that instead of his son whom he thought would be the target, he had been the one who was kidnapped so that the kidnappers could demand a ransom from the next heir to the throne. Or perhaps this was just some kind of sick plot to get rid of Hitsugaya when Ukitake wasn't around to protect him or warn him about the incoming danger. Or perhaps it was all just some kind of dream.

"'ello there, Ukitake-koutei." Ukitake blinked as his eyes went back into focus. The first thing he saw was the same creepy smile he noticed before he was knocked out.

"Who are you? And what do you want?" Ukitake demanded.

"My, my, such 'n awful mood, ain't it?" the smiling fox asked no one in particular. "It ain't important ta' know who I am, but I'm here ta' warn ya 'bout somethin' concernin' yer son." Ukitake's eyes widened. He had been right all along; there _**were **_people out there who wanted to kill his son for the throne. "Yer gonna regret holdin' the party at the ball ta'night. Yer precious son will be taken away from ya at exactly twelve midnight ta'night."

Ukitake struggled against the ropes binding his hands and feet. He had to hurry; he had to hurry to get all the shinigamis to be on guard and protect Hitsugaya. There was absolutely no way he was going to let the villains take his only family left away from him. He didn't want to experience the pain of losing another loved one ever again; _**that **_he promised his _kouhou _on her deathbed. As if he had read his mind, the smiling fox-face spoke, "Even if ya put all them shinigamis on security twenty-four seven, it ain't gonna help. We 'ave planted moles in some of the Gotei 13 divisions, so it ain't wise of ya ta' do that, ain't it?" Ukitake felt so helpless at that point, but he still wouldn't let his son get taken away. No f-ing way.

"…Why are you telling me all this? Aren't you afraid of getting executed?" Ukitake asked challengingly, hoping that it would scare whoever it was.

"Ya dun even know who I am, so ya can't just execute me like that. And even if I 'ave ta' die, it's fine, 'coz I ain't the mastermind of all this." With that, he chuckled and continued, "Whatever ya do ta' protect yer son will be useless. His fate is sealed; he will come with us and he will _**stay **_with us. Spend the remainin' five hours with yer son, Ukitake-koutei, 'coz it'll be yer last five hours with 'im."

A blurred flying fist came into contact with his head and he passed out once more.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

For the next fifteen minutes, Hitsugaya Toushirou was literally hiding his shame by covering his red face with a random empty plate he was holding onto. His teal eyes glanced around when he occasionally let the plate down from covering his face. Where the hell was that bun girl? He needed to clear things up with her before he headed back to his room and change into something more comfortable than the itchy, and not to mention very glaring with its bright vibrant colors, yukata he was forced to wear. He remembered when he cautiously stepped into the ballroom, all eyes were on him and he was so damned embarrassed that he immediately rushed into the kitchen to get the plate.

Frustrated, he decided to retreat back into his room, not able to stand hiding his shame anymore until the familiar high-pitched squeal called him, "Shirou-chaaaan! Over here!"

Twitching, Hitsugaya put the plate down and marched over to where Hinamori was waving. That was when he noticed this recognizable brown-haired spectacled man standing next to her. He was wearing a chocolate brown yukata with an obi that took on an even darker shade of brown, and the haori he was wearing seemed all too trademark. Oh. Right. The damned announcer from earlier. Hitsugaya was going to make him pay for embarrassing him in public like that. What the hell was the connection between Hinamori and this guy? "Hello, Hitsugaya-koushi. It's such an honor to meet you again."

"You were the emcee, weren't you?" Hitsugaya asked suspiciously, folding his arms. "So, what was your purpose for embarrassing me like that earlier on?"

Aizen plainly smiled at him innocently. "Oh, whatever are you talking about, Hitsugaya-koushi? I just asked for a small little harmless demonstration from you. Was that too much to ask of you?"

Hinamori stepped in to prevent a heated argument (in Hitsugaya's opinion) from happening. "That's right, Shirou-chan! Aizen-taichou means no harm!"

Hitsugaya cocked an eyebrow. Taichou, hmm? She and Aizen _**were **_somewhat connected to each other after all. More than he expected…Damn, Hinamori should be more careful about the captain she chose to serve under. Somehow, this Aizen fellow just couldn't seem to be trusted at all… "I'll let it slip for now. On your account, Hinamori," Hitsugaya added. "And it's Hitsugaya-koushi. It's frustrating enough to correct one certain person already; don't add anymore salt to the wound." Instead of obeying and replying with a, 'I understand, Hitsugaya-koushi' or something like that, Hinamori began giggling instead, and Aizen was still smiling with a light-hearted chuckle. Hitsugaya was confused. "…What? Was it something I said?"

Hinamori covered her mouth, trying to stop the giggles from coming out, but she couldn't help pointing at him, speaking and forcing the words out of her mouth, "No…Hee hee…I-it's…You're…" Pausing for a while to laugh it out loud, earning herself curious stares from the guests in the room, Hinamori bowed shyly to excuse for her behavior, but the smile was still on her face. She was biting her lower lip to prevent herself from laughing any further. Hitsugaya was still confused. "Um…Hitsugaya-koushi, it's not something you said…It's just that…you look so cute when you blush!!!"

"W-what?!" Hitsugaya blinked and backed away. He, the cool and aloof heir to the throne to succeed his father, who practically didn't give a damn about many things in life, _**blushed**_?! Since when the hell did he do that?! Ok, sure…So maybe his childish father teased him earlier…Why was he blushing so often all of a sudden recently? It didn't make sense; not at all.

"It's true, Shirou-I mean, Hitsugaya-koushi!" Hinamori giggled once more. "Once you talked about correcting that special someone, your face started becoming all red! It's so cute, Shirou-chan!"

What the hell?! He was blushing because of mentioning Kurosaki in passing?! Since when did he like that clown anyway? "U-um…Let's forget about that for now, Hinamori. I need to talk to you about something…"

Apparently, the blush refused to leave as much as he was willing it to leave, seeing that Hinamori was struggling to stifle her giggles as she nodded. Hitsugaya led her to the balcony, away from the crowd and most importantly, away from that Aizen guy. "Ok, Shirou-chan, what do you want to talk about?"

"Hitsugaya-koushi, Hinamori. Remember that."

"Riiight…So what do you wanna talk about?" Hinamori enquired chirpily.

"Hmph," Hitsugaya scoffed at Hinamori's ignorance. "About last time."

"Oh. What about last time?" Hinamori asked like as if nothing happened.

"Well…Remember all those years ago, when we first met in one of the states in Rukongai and we wasted one entire day on playing?"

Hinamori looked sullen. "Oh…That…And then you suddenly said that you were going home and you never came back…"

Hitsugaya sighed, "About that…You see, koutei-otousan decided that it would be good to bring me out to check on the Rukongai states. Like how koutei-otousan is supposed to check on the states and make sure that everything is alright…That day, he decided to bring me out there, to broaden my experience and knowledge."

"…But you dressed up like some ruffian, Shirou-chan."

Hitsugaya resisted the urge to knock her head for her mild stupidity, but that was mean, even for him. "Baka…Do you think koutei-otousan and I were supposed to dress like royalties and scare everyone away? How do you think we were supposed to blend in with the citizens to learn more about their lifestyle?"

"So…" Hinamori's eyes widened and she backed away from Hitsugaya, pointing an accusing finger at him. "Oh my goodness!!! So you're like, some kind of royal undercover spy!"

Hitsugaya sweat dropped and sighed again. "Sure…You can put it in that nasty way if you want…" he muttered under his breath, resting his chin on his palm.

"Oh…I-I'm sorry, Hitsugaya-kun, I didn't mean it," she apologized, bowing. "Do you mind being called Hitsugaya-kun, by the way?"

Hitsugaya raised his silvery white eyebrows at the sudden change in subject. "…I don't exactly care…Just don't call me Shirou-chan."

"Ok, Shirou-chan! I mean, Hitsugaya-kun!"

Hitsugaya sighed and rolled his eyes just as Kiyone and Sentarou suddenly barged in, looking really flustered. "H-Hitsugaya-koushi!" both of them acknowledged simultaneously, glaring at each other before bowing.

"What's the matter now?" Hitsugaya asked seriously, getting off the high-legged chair in the balcony.

"Ukitake-koutei has asked for your presence in his room!" Kiyone replied enthusiastically, pushing Sentarou further and further away by using her foot to stomp against his face. Sentarou was taking a mental note that for a girl, his rival for attention and glory sure was acting like a tomboy. "He said that it's an emergency and that he would like to see you now!"

Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. That wasn't like his father to ask for him out of the blue…And since when did his cheerful, happy-go-lucky father had an emergency aside from a relapse? He was curious. Very curious. "Did koutei-otousan say anything else?"

"Yes! He said that he has to give you something before midnight or else something bad will happen to you!"

Whoa, that serious? Hitsugaya couldn't believe what he was hearing. It must be really important, otherwise why else would Ukitake want him to be in his room where no one else was around? "Really…? Alright, I'll go there now." Hitsugaya turned around to face Hinamori. "Well, Hinamori, that's all I wanted to say to you. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go and meet koutei-otousan."

"Alright, Hitsugaya-kun. Take care," Hinamori bid her farewells, bowing with respect.

In the corner of the ballroom, one Kurosaki Ichigo was wondering to himself where his favorite little white-haired prince was walking off to in such a hurry.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

**Knock knock**

Ukitake nearly jumped from the seat on his large royal bed, which was even larger than Hitsugaya's, at the sound of the knocks on the doors to his room. "C-come in," he stuttered, hoping that it was his son and not the same people he encountered that afternoon. His head still hurt from the blows he received, but he tried to hide the bruises with his white bangs.

Hitsugaya opened the door and entered the grand royal bedroom, twice the size of his own, and it came with Ukitake's personal bathroom coated in gold and silver whereas Hitsugaya's was coated in just silver and some bits were in gold, of course, and not to mention that his was slightly smaller in size compared to his father's personal bathroom. Hitsugaya closed the door as he walked towards his father and took a seat next to him. "You called for me, father?"

To his surprise, Ukitake embraced him in a hug. "…Yes. I needed to tell you something. It's very important." Hitsugaya didn't say anything to let Ukitake continue with what he intended to say. Now he could safely assume either his father was being a nutcase or something bad was going to happen and he knew of it. Hitsugaya went for the second option. "My _aisoku_…" As Ukitake let go of Hitsugaya from his hug, he gripped onto Hitsugaya's shoulders so tightly it made the white-haired boy flinch a little. "My _aisoku_, you know I don't want anything bad to befall upon you, right?" Hitsugaya slowly nodded, not really knowing where this was getting to. His father was acting strangely…Was it because of that worry of losing him of which it plagued him since his mother's tragic death? No, it couldn't be. Ukitake _**was **_uptight about that, but not _**this **_uptight. "Promise me, Toushirou, no matter what happens later at midnight, you'll always remember me?"

"Koutei-otousan…What-?"

"Just promise that no matter what happens, you'll always place this old man in your heart?"

Knowing that 'old man' was referring to none other than himself, Hitsugaya sighed and gave in. Yup, he was still going for the second option. "I promise, koutei-otousan."

"And promise that you'll keep yourself safe from all villains aiming for the throne. Promise that you'll never succumb to the darkness that is coming to get you; do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir."

He knew that his son was finding it all too strange, but it was best if he didn't know about the horrible plan. At least, not yet. Not till he gave him _**that**_. Ukitake continued, "Good boy. Now come along, I have a little surprise for you." Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. The mood suddenly changed, he felt. "Come," his father cooed as he walked over to the closet and opened the door, digging through the mess of clothes to look for something. "Ah…Here it is!"

Hitsugaya instantly twitched upon laying eyes on that thing. (A/N: Think destructive twisted bunny emoticon, aka o.O, to get a better imaginary image of the scene) "Koutei-otousaaaaaaaan…" he growled in a dangerous, but rather playful, tone. "Do not tell me you're intending to…?" Now Hitsugaya was going for the first option.

"Ah, your intuition is as sharp as ever, my beloved little prince," Ukitake commented with a huge smile, pinching his son's face. Hitsugaya swatted his hand away like a cow's tail swatting stinky flies away and folded his arms, pouting on purpose. Ukitake wiggled his index finger as if saying no. "Tsk tsk tsk, pouting will get you nowhere, my little _aisoku_, so I suggest you cut the cute act and put this on immediately."

"Why the hell are you doing this, father…?" Hitsugaya moaned, slapping his forehead.

"Watch your language, son. And I'm doing this because I'm trying to protect you," Ukitake replied, starting to shove Hitsugaya into the bathroom and forcing him to get changed by first removing the upper half of his yukata.

"Asking me to wear that dreadful cursed thing is your way of protecting me?" Hitsugaya spat coldly. "What's going on?! Why are you suddenly acting like this? This isn't like you at all, father!"

"Son…I don't know how to put this, ok? Look, it's best if you don't know and put this on at once…"

Hitsugaya held onto Ukitake's wrists and gripped onto them tightly. "You're worrying me, father. Speak your mind; there is no one else here but me," Hitsugaya murmured. "What are you afraid of?"

Ukitake sighed sadly. Somehow, his son's words of wisdom never failed to convince him to speak the truth. "Toushirou…I've been told that at the stroke of midnight tonight…You'll be taken away by those dastardly villains I've always been telling you about…There's no way to stop them or prevent any of this from happening, so…"

"So you want me to wear that piece of sh-um, that thing?" Hitsugaya hastily corrected himself. "Otousan, why can't you just get the shinigamis on guard or something? There's has to be a way out of this. I'm not leaving you all by yourself, father."

"There's no way out, Toushirou. There are moles planted among the Gotei 13 Divisions; there's no one I can trust."

"_Moles? Did koutei-otousan say that there are moles planted among the Gotei 13 Divisions? Could that…spectacled freak of a captain to Hinamori be…one of them…?" Hitsugaya thought to himself suspiciously._

"So please, Toushirou, please bear with this till midnight. I can't guarantee that it'll work, but…" Ukitake sighed and rubbed his eyes, as if he was about to cry. "Son…I…I just can't lose you the way I lost your mother…alright? I just…can't. And if this doesn't work, I…I don't know what I'll do, but this is all I can come up with. Toushirou, I…"

Hitsugaya's heart immediately softened. He snatched the clothes from his father's grasp. "…Give me that."

**＜ブリーチ＞**

Ichigo was having the time of his life, bragging on and on about his strength and his capabilities that helped him in passing the test with flying colors. Of course he didn't forget congratulating his newfound friends that he found in the other candidates besides his childhood friend Ishida, but still, the bragging couldn't be ignored. Ishida was sighing away and repositioning his spectacles every now and then, muttering to himself that Ichigo was taking things way too lightly. After all, he _**was **_placed last in the exams…Not that the boastful strawberry really knew about that. Let's just say that Ishida and the other candidates decided to keep it their little secret and pretend that Hanatarou came in last for the exams. It wasn't exactly a lie either; Hanatarou was placed second last, since he scored half a mark higher than Ichigo.

"_Anou…(um…) _Kurosaki-kun, I think you're hungry by now…Why don't you get some food?" Orihime offered, trying to get Ichigo to stop boasting. "You must be hungry, Kurosaki-kun!"

"Ah? Well, alright…But I was getting to the best part; the part where I saved Ishida's ass!" Ichigo moaned before he got dragged away by the arm by Orihime.

"Hmph. The only thing that buffoon saved me from was a nest of fire red ants, and that was when we were six," Ishida stated with slightly hurt pride in his voice, repositioning his spectacles once more. He still couldn't forgive that Ichigo for showing him the 'cool' nest in the first place, otherwise he wouldn't be bitten all over his body. "And anyway, Kurosaki-kun didn't do anything. He just stood there and watched till he finally got a stick to chase the ants away." In reality, Ichigo was attempting to squash the ants on Ishida's body, hitting Ishida in the process. Of course the spectacled archer knew that the orange strawberry deliberately wanted to hurt him using the guise of killing the ants crawling and biting his body. Well, Ichigo wasn't only a baka; he was a bastard, period.

"Attention, attention!" Sentarou exclaimed, earning a hmph from Kiyone amongst the crowd. "Please welcome our dear Ukitake-koutei and his…_**niece**_…" Sentarou emphasized before clearing his throat. "…Ukitake Syaoshiro!"

Everyone in the room blinked and stared at each other. Since when did Ukitake have a niece? And where was the _koushi_? Ichigo was bewildered as he stepped away from the large array of food and went nearer to take a closer look. Ok, Ukitake was there with a warm smile on his face; that was normal. What wasn't normal was the person he saw walking behind him. It was a girl wearing a bright pink yukata with a magenta obi and beautiful sakura petal embroidery decorated on the yukata. The sleeves were so long that they covered her hands completely, but Ichigo could still barely see small petite fingers from underneath the sleeves. What was amazing was that she had the Ukitake family-exclusive white hair combed back into a small spiky bun-like pigtail, and a small sakura-like hair accessory clipping up a rather familiar wisp of white hair to prevent it from covering her piercing emerald eyes that held unmatched beauty.

He fell deeply in love with her without thinking twice.

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A/N: It's very obvious who it is, isn't it? (jumps for joy) I find this chapter cute and really fun to write, despite little Tou-chan getting into impending danger.

_Next chapter: So our little strawberry has found love at last, but Syaoshiro isn't what she seems. Of course not; and it seems that his dream has been fulfilled. He gets to have a dance with the beautiful Snow White aka you-know-who. Will she -ahem- he find love in Ichigo too? And -gasp- it's midnight! What'll happen now?_


	5. Midnight of Fate

Author's Note: Uber cuteness ahoy! XD Man, Hitsu cross dressing scenes make me laugh, and the HitsuIchi scenes in this chapter made me go insane. I don't know if it's because I love HitsuIchi to death or because I love HitsuIchi to death, buuuuuut I suppose it's neither of the above options. I think it's because I love HitsuIchi to death. (Don't mind me, don't mind me…My brain's gone whacky from holiday homework)

Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.

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Scroll Five – Midnight of Fate

She was just so beautiful. The yukata suited her perfectly as the bright color of sakura pink brought out the sharp dazzling emeralds she had for eyes. Those mesmerizing eyes…Were they even fit enough to be called something as lowly as eyes? They should deserve something much nicer, like her. 'Jewels' wasn't even the right word for them. They sparkled with such glittering intensity and almost seemed to be brightening up the room, even. And don't even get Ichigo started already; he could think up of even more things to describe a beauty like Syaoshiro. She was just so beautiful. Even her voice was enough to make him feel so horny on the inside (A/N: Ever wonder if Hitsugaya has a knack for putting on Paku Romi-sama's real voice? XD). She sounded so delicate, heck, she even looked delicate. Perhaps he had been so well-hypnotized by the princess's arrival that he didn't realize the disgusted look Ishida gave him.

"…Kurosaki-kun."

Ichigo's jaw fell and he spluttered, "Ureah…?"

Ishida repositioned his spectacles and tried to remain as calm as possible as he spoke, "It would be much appreciated if you could go and find a wet mop to clean up your drool lest you make the other shinigamis present uncomfortable."

"Rioh…M'okie…" Ichigo attempted to take a step to start his mop-finding adventure when he stumbled backwards and fell on top of Ishida, a long trail of icky saliva trickling down the poor archer's face.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

Ukitake turned to look at the commotion over at the spot at which a drooling accident seemed to have occurred, though he had no idea that it was a drooling accident. The young and oh so feminine Hitsugaya curiously raised an eyebrow when he -ahem- she saw the crowd gathering around the spot. "What _**is **_going on there?" he asked, putting on the female voice.

Ukitake, however, didn't seem to mind much about the rowdiness going on as he figured that whatever it was would be done quickly. He turned back to face his cross dressed son who felt a sudden chill down his spine. Man, his father was really good at scaring him with his goofy grins which normally indicated candy-giving sessions. "My dear child, you're really good at being a girl."

Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched. "When are you going to stop talking about that?"

"Oh, I could go on forever!" Ukitake clapped his hands together. "It sounds like as if you've been practicing a lot."

At that, Hitsugaya blushed as his mind trailed back to when he was ten years old. He thought about his younger ten-year-old self two years ago, when he was really bored out of his mind and trying so hard to find something to kill time. He offered to help out with the chores, but the servants insisted on letting them get the chores done. He offered to help his father out with the paperwork and scrolls, but Ukitake kindly smiled at him for being so considerate and told him to play in the gardens instead. So he did just that, and went out to the gardens, but it was still very boring. That was when a sudden memory of something he had long forgotten struck him at the moment. He remembered a raven-haired lady, cradling a white-haired baby in her arms, and singing him to sleep. My, it was a wonder how he could still remember how his mother sang him lullabies when he was merely a few months old.

Hitsugaya Toushirou shivered. It wasn't because of the cold. It was because he suddenly remembered that he practiced singing ever since.

And when he sang high-pitch, it was then he realized that he was able to put on a female voice, but it was at a price: his voice broke terribly. He couldn't speak for three weeks after that.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

After the drool had been mopped off the floor, Ichigo went back to his goofy old self and helped himself to all the food, like the super expensive sushi that could not be found anywhere else except the palace, and the awfully nice sashimi, probably the best he had ever eaten in his life. After all, a Zarakian like he didn't have much to eat, for Zarakians were the poorest of the poorest of all the states of Tamashii. Education was, thus, provided free for them, but it wasn't like they really learnt much except for basic math and learning Japanese. As for the food, his father, like any other Zarakian father, would go to the hills and hunt for animals, and about medical help, it would be the mother's job to go to the hills and get some herbs. Yuzu had been given that responsibility because Karin was unwilling to be treated like a mother (being a tomboy and all) and because their mother died a long time ago.

It was quite saddening for them, really. No one knew who killed her. She was found dead one morning and that's it.

"Ah, Ichigo-kun!"

"Eh?" Ichigo stopped eating his ramen halfway and turned. Ukitake and his 'niece' were heading towards him, with Ukitake being quite excited while Syaoshiro was…how to say, a bit neutral. "Ah, Ukitake-san!"

Under his guise, Hitsugaya wanted so much to correct the big idiot, but as what his father had told him when he was putting on the female yukata, he had to act like a decent girl like those girls who serve tea and love playing dolls or somewhere around that. Long story short, he had to act like someone that he wasn't. A complete opposite; a total split personality of some sort. Creepy. "I suppose you know my dear niece by now," Ukitake's voice snapped both Hitsugaya and Ichigo back to reality. He ruffled the hair of his 'niece' who, on the inside was very pissed off about that, showed that he liked it by smiling instead, though it was a bit obvious that the ends of his mouth were twitching. "I was wondering, Ichigo-kun…"

"Yeah?"

"I've already went round introducing my niece to everyone except you, so I'll tell you now. Syaoshiro is ten years old." The comment nearly made Hitsugaya twitch. Looked like time had gone backwards by two years… "She and my son, who has unfortunately fallen sick and is in the toilet as we speak, are very close. My dear niece's parents have died in an accident, and she has nowhere else to go so she came to me." Ichigo was nodding sadly; the story seemed quite tragic to him. Hitsugaya blinked. He had no idea his father was so good at lying. Either that, or Ichigo was a complete moron who was all too gullible. Then again, other people who had heard their story coming from Ukitake also displayed sadness. Hinamori even cried and needed Aizen to comfort her. He could remember because he was busy rolling his eyes before Ukitake elbowed him secretly to stop it. "And so, I was wondering, Ichigo-kun…could you help me with one small tiny favor?"

"Oh, sure, Ukitake-san! Anything!"

"Would you like to have a dance with my dear little Syaoshiro-chan?"

Pause.

"_**Eh?!?!?!**_" both Hitsugaya and Ichigo chimed simultaneously, near crimson blushes creeping up on their faces.

"Ah, ah, you see, Syaoshiro is a really good dancer." Wow, that was one good lie. Hitsugaya couldn't help but twitch. He had received royal dance lessons before, but he was never interested in dancing, so he stopped his dance lessons four years ago. _**Four years. **_And he still didn't know how to do the grand waltz yet. "You look like you're still sitting for another major exam. So loosen up and release the tension with a little dance, Ichigo-kun. It'll do both you and Syaoshiro some good."

"Uh…" Ichigo blinked twice in rapid motion. "S-Syaoshiro, what do you think?" he stammered. It wasn't an everyday activity to have the girl of your dreams' father – or uncle, for that matter – to suddenly come up to you and ask of you to dance with her. That was the same as telling you that you should go and date her. How embarrassing. Yet, it was certainly a dream come true.

Hitsugaya stared into the nervous but unwavering chocolate brown eyes before his blush deepened and he looked away, averting Ichigo's gaze. "…A-ah…" Holy crap, he stammered! "…I think it'd be…nice."

Amazingly, Ichigo found it very appealing to hear Hitsugaya (in a girl's voice) stutter like that. The way Hitsugaya said it gave him an impression that Syaoshiro was a timid, meek, gentle girl. Yeah right. Hitsugaya was anything but timid and meek and gentle. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Ukitake cooed as he pushed Hitsugaya forward, nearer to Ichigo until his head almost gave a painful headbutt on Ichigo's chest. Thankfully, his head landed on Ichigo's chest softly, and this position made him feel…uneasy. The strawberry felt like he was a volcano ready to erupt any time now. It felt soooo hot.

Hitsugaya moved away, like barely a few inches away from Ichigo, and spoke softly, "Ah…n…Sorry…"

"Hey, don't worry 'bout it," Ichigo replied with a grin. He stretched his arm out, palm facing upwards, and asked, "You…wanna dance?"

Normally, Hitsugaya would snort and pass the chance, but he _**did **_agree and hey…maybe it wouldn't be so bad to take this chance to know the doofus better. Moreover, he had to act like a tea party girl so as to not arouse any suspicion that he was actually cross dressing like a girl, and thus, he stretched out his hand and took the palm. Big, beefy fingers curled themselves around the dainty, lanky ones and this contact made Hitsugaya blush even more. Hell, he was acting and thinking like as if he were a girl already!

…Maybe the girl thing was infecting his brain.

Tap, tap, tap they went slowly with their feet, with Ichigo's hands clutching tightly onto Hitsugaya's. The orange head didn't seem to have that much talent in dancing, but he was doing completely fine, other than a few occasional times he stepped on his own foot. Hitsugaya was cautiously trying not to step on his own foot, so he wound up stepping on Ichigo's instead. Though he was slightly wincing at the stepping, Ichigo made it seem like nothing happened. It only made Hitsugaya more ashamed instead. His pride was really easy to shatter…And there goes another accidental step on Ichigo's foot. How nice.

"_Damn…why the hell am I acting like a total klutz?!" Hitsugaya thought to himself angrily._

"Eh, Shiro-chan?"

Did…he just call him…Shiro-chan?

"_N…nani, _Kurosaki-san?" he asked in falsetto.

"Well…wanted to ask ya…" Whoa, he seemed really nervous. "You…wanna grab something to eat later?"

Hitsugaya tried to hide his blush by looking away. Unfortunately, his wisp of white hair that was born to cover one of his eyes was clipped up so he had nothing that would help him hide his blush. Damn. "I've, um, already eaten…"

**Growl growl growl**

"…But I'm feeling hungry again."

Ichigo's grin widened to the point in which Hitsugaya thought the ends of Ichigo's mouth would reach the tip of his ears. "Ok, Shiro-chan. By the way, what time do you go to bed?"

"Huh?"

"Like, you know, a fixed time when you go to sleep?"

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes to the left as if in thought. "No. Not that I know of. I sleep whenever I feel like sleeping," he answered, and he was very honest at that.

"Ah, I see. Coz in Zaraki, we sleep at midnight sharp."

"…And why is that so?" the white-haired _hime (princess) _asked curiously.

Ichigo just smiled and shrugged. "Dunno. It was just some dumb ol' rule." When those words came out of his mouth, he wished he could pop back time and stop himself from saying something so informal to the _hime _in front of him.

"I see." Hitsugaya's reply was probably something Ichigo didn't expect. "So, why the sudden question?"

"Oh. Coz it's almost midnight and it just suddenly came to my head."

Hitsugaya resisted the urge to roll his eyes and sigh. An idiot would be a total idiot to the very core, wouldn't he? Wait, did he just say that it was almost…midnight? How did he know when the watches and clocks that Ukitake personally purchased from other countries were kept in the palace? Unless…there was a clock in the ballroom…and the _baka _knew how to read time…That was quite a plausible explanation. And hell, it was almost midnight already?! Did they really dance for so long that he didn't even realize it? Hitsugaya tilted his head backwards and sure enough, there was a clock that his father bought from another country hanging on the wall, and it read 11.50 pm. Ten minutes to midnight; it meant ten minutes to his disappearance which his father was trying so hard to prevent. But…he wanted to stay. He wanted so much to stay and dance, just for a little while longer…

…But it wasn't possible. If he truly got captured, there would be no telling when he would ever see the day when he and Ichigo would get another chance to dance again.

"Kurosaki-san," he began. "I…I have to go now."

Ichigo asked in disappointment, "Hah? But why?"

"Because…I just remembered that I have to go help Toushirou-kun with the paperwork since he's sick," Hitsugaya lied. He let go of Ichigo's hands and without saying anything else, he ran towards the door leading to the hallway connected to the palace gardens. From there, he would be able to find his father and just hope that he would be safe…

"Wait! Syaoshiro!" Ichigo yelled, stretching out his hand. Just as he said it, Hitsugaya stepped on the ends of his yukata, which had been proven to be too big for someone of his physical stature, and as he tripped, he felt himself falling and moving closer to the ground…when warm, strong hands grabbed him by the waist and prevented him from falling. Ichigo pulled the blushing _koushi _back up. "You okay, Shiro-chan?"

For some reason, the young prince felt so…safe in Ichigo's arms. He felt so secure and so protected. It was…nice. "Ah," he replied, almost letting his male voice loose. "Thank you…Ichigo. Now I have to go."

Ichigo sighed sadly. "Alrighty, Shiro-chan. I'll see ya next time."

"_There won't be a next time, Kurosaki. If there ever will be, I'll never want to wear something this stupid ever again."_

**＜ブリーチ＞**

Ukitake Juushirou ran around the palace gardens in circles, wondering where his son had gotten to.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

Hitsugaya Toushirou ran as fast as he could to get out of the horrendously loooong hallway, his hands pulling the yukata up to prevent himself from stepping on it once more, otherwise he'd just slip and fall again. That would be wasting time; he could _**not **_afford to waste anymore time. No, never. Suddenly, the country bell in a distance was being chimed, notifying everyone that it was midnight. Oh hell, not now, not yet! He was so close to meeting his father; just give him this one bit of hope that he would not be taken away just yet.

The lights in the hallway, which were lighted torches by the sides, instantly went out, and a shadowed figure jumped down from the ceiling. He felt a cold hand cover his mouth and another cold touch to his chest as if binding him to one spot. As he struggled, a sinister voice whispered in his ear seductively, "'ello there, _koushi_-han. _Ara…_ya look beautiful ta'night." The stranger felt Hitsugaya struggle with his might, even feeling quite a bit of frosty naiatsu leaking out as tiny bits of snow and frost began forming on his arms. All it did was make the figure smile as Hitsugaya could see his teeth sparkle in the darkness from the corner of his eyes. This was far worse than locking himself in that dusty closet last year… "_Ara ara_…I can't have ya strugglin' all 'da way back ta' 'da secret base my _taishou (boss) _built, can I, _ne, koushi_-han?"

Without saying anything else, the figure struck Hitsugaya by the area between the neck and the shoulder and knocked him out before he carried the unconscious body and disappeared into the darkness.

The torches lit up once more.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"_KOUTEI! KOUTEI!!!"_

Ukitake spun around from his position, already breathless from worried running about, and he saw his loyal servants running towards him, not in the mood to fight each other for any glory. Something bad must've had happened. He just hoped it wasn't his son. "Kiyone…Sentarou…What…what's wrong?" he asked, panting. Damn, he was suffering from another relapse…

"Ukitake-koutei…Ukitake-koutei…" Kiyone cried, literally. She went on her knees and so did Sentarou. "Ukitake-koutei, please sentence us to death!"

"Yes, _koutei_!" Sentarou agreed, which would fit the bill into a list known as the Most Impossible Thing that Can Happen in the World. "Please put your servants to death! We have been utmost incompetent!"

Kiyone couldn't stop the tears from flowing out. "Oh, Ukitake-koutei, we don't deserve to serve you! Please execute us!"

Ukitake narrowed his eyes sorrowfully at the sight. They were his precious servants! He wouldn't send them to their deaths even if they had committed something bad. The most that he could punish them if they had committed a sinful act would be to demote them or send them out of the palace grounds but not to execute them! "Please, get up," he requested, trying to hide his breathlessness. "I promise you, on my honor, I will not execute you both. Just tell me what wrong did you commit? I promise I won't execute you. You have served me well for the past seven years. I will not do something so dishonorable to execute you after you have served me for so long." And besides…the two weren't capable of committing anything wrong anyway.

"Ukitake-koutei…we…we…" Kiyone couldn't help it and she moved closer to Ukitake when he pulled her closer to him. She buried her face in his belly area and cried. "We can't find Hitsugaya-koushi anywhere!!!"

Ukitake's eyes widened. "Wh…what?"

"We deserve death, Ukitake-koutei!" Sentarou exclaimed, unwilling to get up from his kneeling position. "We failed in our task to locate and protect the _koushi_! Hitsugaya-koushi…is gone!"

For a moment, the sickly white-haired emperor felt his heart sinking like the Titanic. His world was spinning quite terribly, and he felt like he was walking on the air. His vision blurred. "Toushirou…My son…" he mumbled quietly before he felt himself knocking against the concrete palace grounds as everything became black.

"_**UKITAKE-KOUTEI!!!**_"

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A/N: Things are starting to get interesting from now on. You see…this fanfic is like a serial drama whereby the star couple has to go through a lot of challenges before they can finally be together. Yes. Very cliché. Man, I suck. Anyway, this story will be very long…maybe spanning to about twenty chapters or so. It's like the few story arcs in Bleach. Sigh…how original (note the sarcasm). I really must go and think of better ideas…

_Next chapter: Ukitake begins getting anonymous ransom letters and with each more recent one, the ransom just gets more and more demanding, until a certain clue is found in the letters, and Ukitake decides to call in his most trusted shinigami-in-training to go and find his son for him – Kurosaki Ichigo. Is the lovesick strawberry up for the job? And by the way, whatever happened to Hitsu-chan during all this while? -someone randomly whispers in author's ear- Uh-huh? -more whispering- Ok. -more whispering- o.O Oooookaaaaayyyy…_

_Nope, nope, I can't tell you. Not yet. All I can tell you is that Hitsu-chan won't be appearing much in the next chapter. There's something sinister up my sleeve…Heheheh…-cackles-_

At any rate, please review:-)


	6. Ransom

Author's Note: It's a long wait…o.O I'm sorry.

Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.

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Scroll Six – Ransom

It had been days.

Day after day…Ukitake waited. He waited as he did the paperwork. He waited as he lied down on his bed. He waited as he daydreamt about his son. He waited…and waited. For something, or someone, to come and bring him news about his son. Anything. Well, anything but death, of course. Ukitake was so desperate for news about his missing and kidnapped son that he had totally lost track of time, and hadn't been sleeping well. Sometimes he wondered if his son was all well, but he had his doubts about that matter.

And then suddenly, something swooped past him with a swift swish. A soft thud could be heard at the back of his head, quick and easy.

The guards didn't notice it, Ukitake mused to himself. It must've had been much too quick for them to notice the dart. The emperor stood up from his throne and walked along the sides, stretching his trembling arm out and tugging the dart out of the wall. Fingers trailed about the paper rolled up tenderly and perfectly before unrolling it and dropping the dart to the ground. The dart wasn't intended to be used to kill him; that he knew. But it was unknown was to whether or not the dart had been filled with lethal poison. He would have to take precautions from now on. Unrolling the rolled up piece of delicate rice paper, Ukitake scanned the words closely and carefully on his desk, reading it over and over again.

All he could muster was a soft and shocked, "…Eh?"

And even after reading the note for the fifteenth time, he still didn't get the meaning behind the last sentence.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"Ne…he still ain't eatin', that kiddo?"

"No."

The grinning figure's creepy smile widened when he caught sight of the white-haired prisoner lying on the ground, sound asleep, but short and ragged gasps escaping his lips with every breath. "Aw, poor little _koushi-_han. 'Da air up here too hot fer someone like 'im, eh?"

"…"

"Ya know, if our lord wasn't 'da one who wants 'im, I wouldn't mind takin' 'im and givin' 'im all my dried persimmons ta' eat."

**＜ブリーチ＞**

**Whack**

Pieces of strong wood collided with one another, the piercing sound waves bouncing off the walls and echoing throughout the training halls. Kurosaki Ichigo dazedly brings down the wooden sword in his hands like a frail old man, his opponent-in-practice deliberately going easy on him since the other probably noticed how distracted the orange-haired teenager was. '_…Toushirou…where are you…? Ukitake-san told everyone to be on the lookout for anyone who could've taken you…Just where the hell are you?'_

"Halt!"

The loud booming voice of the zanjutsu sensei brought Ichigo out of his daze, but his vision was still pretty hazy in his opinion. '_And I haven't seen Syaoshiro these days too…damn, you royalties are too mysterious for your own damned good.'_

"Half an hour break before you return to your class! Training will resume from there!" the instructor shouted, his voice echoing throughout the large room. He stomped his way out, the trainees bowing for his departure, before the doors closed with a loud bang and that was the cue for the new recruits to lift their heads up and begin resting up for even harsher training afterwards.

Ichigo heaved a huge sigh of frustration before settling himself down on the floor, sitting there Indian-style. His genius of a so-called childhood friend edged closer towards the somewhat depressed strawberry and half reluctantly sat down next to him. "Kurosaki-kun, you have been acting out of sorts since that party was held." When he heard the other sigh, Ishida continued, "Does it have anything to do with the abduction of the _koushi_?"

"…Pretty much."

The raven-haired archer repositioned his spectacles. "It isn't like you to worry this much, Kurosaki." Ichigo tossed him a look that said 'eh?' and it gave the spectacled rival a chance to explain. "The last time I saw you like this, it was after your mother passed on. It baffles me…do you see your mother in Hitsugaya-koushi?"

Ichigo blinked. To be frank, he didn't give it much thought. But this time, the more he thought about it, the more he realized exactly how those two were practically worlds apart. His mother was a kind, loving person who had beauty to match that. Toushirou was…well, just Toushirou. Smart, young, brave, stubborn…and very much admirable and well-liked. The only problem was that he never smiled. Well, not in his presence at least, but still. The orange-haired trainee glared at his childhood rival. "Don't be a bastard, Ishida. 'Course I don't. Toushirou is Toushirou; _okaa-san _is _okaa-san_, okay?"

Ishida looked away and sighed. He was _**still **_too much of an idiot to notice that there was a very deep connection between the _koushi _and Syaoshiro, but Ishida figured that it would be best left unsaid. "Then how do you explain your range of emotions now? Look at yourself in a mirror, Kurosaki-kun; you look like you've been run over by three trucks."

Without him realizing it, his hands had traveled up to his eyes. He couldn't see it, but he had a bad feeling that if he were to become a half-human, half-animal hybrid, he'd most probably be a panda right now. If only he had white hair like Hitsugaya or even Syaoshiro…damn, that beautiful, graceful symbol of pure snow…(then he'd _**really **_look like a panda)

Doors suddenly opening with a bang, the strict instructor returned with the usual scowl on the face. "Break isn't over yet; why are you all so scared?! And you, Kurosaki!" he exclaimed, pointing a beefy finger towards a somewhat frightened strawberry who glared at the other. "Stop wasting time being so rude to your instructor and go on ahead! Ukitake-koutei is asking for your presence."

Ichigo blinked twice in rapid motion. "Ukitake-san…asking for me?"

**＜ブリーチ＞**

When the orange-haired shinigami-in-training gave a hard knock on the doors, he had a strange feeling in the gut that whatever Ukitake was looking for him for, it was something bad. It took a while, but the sickly _koutei _answered for him to enter nonetheless. Nodding inwardly, the orange strawberry pushed the doors open and closed them, a bit confused as to why there were no people standing on guard, even after the mysterious abduction of the second most powerful of the royalties. Ichigo didn't bother to make a bow at the emperor and walked on, venturing deeper into the large realm of the highly-esteemed _koutei_. Ukitake had his hand pressed against his forehead, elbow shakily supporting the hand by lying on the table. Scrolls and ink bottles fell over, but it wasn't like the latter cared. In his other hand, there was a small but noticeable note with slightly smudged kanji.

Ransom.

"Ukitake-san…"

Ukitake looked up and casted Ichigo a worriedly serious glance. "Ichigo-kun, I'm glad you acceded to my request of suddenly needing to see you urgently." The white-haired ruler of Tamashii then stared at the dog-eared note signed anonymously in his hand, narrowing his eyes a little. "This is…from the person behind Toushirou's abduction." Ichigo's eyes widened slightly. Unable to restrain himself, he moved closer and pulled the paper out of Ukitake's weak grasp and began to read the letter, taking in every single word written on the delicate piece of paper.

_Hello, Ukitake-koutei._

_I'm sure you're dying to know about your son's whereabouts at the moment. Don't worry; he is perfectly safe in our hands. For now. Just so you know, this isn't a normal note of ransom. It's also to communicate with you via special darts that have been created to be only seen by you and you alone. Therefore, I will stop beating about the bush and come straight to the point. We would like to arrive at a negotiable price that you would have to pay. Fufufu…isn't that wonderful?_

_It's very simple, really. We'll give you back your son, but only when you agree to hand over the throne of koutei to a person in the Gotei 13. The name of that person will not be revealed as of yet but if you were to reply with a yes, I would reveal to you who that person is. However, you are not to decline this offer; if so, it would be as good as killing your dear boy, but we can't have that now, can we?_

_I expect your reply by tomorrow. If we don't receive anything from you…well, who knows what could happen next? Here, this is your boy's palm print coated in his own blood as proof. Well, thank you for taking the time to read this, Ukitake-koutei. I hope you'll make the right decision._

_Anonymous_

_PS. Just how __**do **__you teach your child?! He has no manners whatsoever! He's been asking for watermelons and watermelons and watermelons over and over again! Oh my heavens…From where we are, there are NO watermelons! Do send watermelons over as part of the ransom; please do. Your child is driving all of my minions, as well as myself, up the wall._

Kurosaki Ichigo didn't know whether to laugh or to curse.

"Ichigo-kun," Ukitake called, dragging Ichigo out of his dream world. "I would also like to inform you of something." The white-haired emperor dug into under his sleeves and pulled out a few more bunches of notes before passing them over to the orange-haired strawberry who took them with a confused look on his face. "All this while, I have received ransom letters, but I haven't noticed till I received the most recent one."

"…Ukitake-san, all these letters are blank."

The sickly worried father of the _koushi _snapped his fingers. "Exactly." He got up from his seat, footsteps echoing in the eerily quiet room and picked a letter gently out of Ichigo's grasp before slowly making his way towards the dimly-lit candle, raising the paper above the tiny delicate flame at a perfect height away so as to not burn the paper. "Take a look, Ichigo-kun," he warmly yet worriedly instructed. Said strawberry stole a glance at the paper, a circle of light guiding his way through the kanji that magically appeared on the Japanese writing material.

_Your son is with us._

Ukitake picked up another piece of paper and shone the candlelight below, words showing up once more.

_We wish to have all the money you have in the palace._

_Give us the ransom money or else._

_We have decided not to have the money; we want something much more. There will be more details in the next letter you receive from us._

_Give us the throne or else you'll never see your son again._

…_Don't give them…what they want…otou-san…_

Ichigo couldn't resist and grabbed the last piece of paper. The words slowly faded away but he could at least catch a glimpse of blood smeared at a corner of the piece of delicate paper.

Blood.

_**Toushirou's **_blood.

Oh hell.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A/N: This is the shortest chapter I have ever written for this story.

But that's mainly coz I'm giving you two chapters at one go XP


	7. Investigation Onward to Zaraki

Author's Note: Right…So like I said, as an apology, I'm rushing through two chapters. I intended to make three, but I have something else in mind…hehe.

Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.

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Scroll Seven – Investigation; Onward to Zaraki

The wall of death silence self-constructed between the current ruler of Tamashii and the shinigami trainee. The only sounds that could be heard were the paper rustling and crumpling in Ichigo's hand, and the crackling of the tiny flame lit on the candle. Ukitake held his forehead with his trembling hand, staring at the wooden desk he was resting his elbow on. Paperwork and scrolls spread out wildly to the point whereby some even fell off the table. He stole a quick glance at Ichigo, but even if it was a quick one, the pained look evident on the other's face was hard to forget. The orange-haired trainee's brows furrowed and knitted together, his hazelnut eyes burning with an intensity that Ukitake could not identify.

With a hiss that shook the emperor out of his daze, Ichigo spun around sharply and made a loud stomp before the white-haired other stopped him. "_Matte, _Ichigo-kun! Don't act rashly!"

Yet one more pissed off grunt and Ichigo turned to protest, "We can't just leave Toushirou there to die, Ukitake-san! Didn't you see the blood?! Didn't you?!"

The white-haired emperor took in a deep intake of oxygen and went over, placing his hands on Ichigo's tense shoulders as if in an attempt to calm the other down. "Yes, I did. I am just as concerned as you are, Ichigo-kun, but we could try thinking this as calmly as we can."

"But Toushirou is-!"

"I know, I know," Ukitake sighed worriedly. "That's why I'm planning on sending someone there to save him before tomorrow comes."

Ichigo blinked twice in rapid motion, the intent to kill whoever the hell kidnapped his (favorite) white-haired _koushi _totally gone from the blazing eyes he had, but he was still pretty much pissed off on the inside. "…Eh?"

Ukitake would've had smiled at that kind of reaction but seeing as how things were…nah.

"See this letter, Ichigo-kun?" he asked, picking up the longest and most recent ransom letter he received. "It says here that whoever the kidnappers are, they don't have any watermelons in their possession."

"…So?"

"So, wherever they are, there are no watermelons nearby. Now," Ukitake paused to pull out his drawer of his personal working desk and fished out a large scroll, about five feet long and six or even seven feet across. As much as he was trying to be as calm as he could, his actions were somewhat contradicting his earlier statement. With a swish of his hand, he pushed the papers aside, letting them fly across the room, before he placed the largest scroll Ichigo had ever seen down on the table with a thud. "…Ok, come over here, Ichigo." The orange-haired other gave a light nod as he walked over and peeked. It looked like a map of some sort with lots of messy arrowheads marked with different dyes of ink and names of places in rather smudged kanji. "Take a look. We're here, in the heart of Tamashii," Ukitake directed, pointing a finger at the capital right smack in the middle of the country.

"Uh-huh…?"

Ukitake traced his finger across towards the west of the map. "This is Junrinan. I once brought my son here to let him experience how our people live. The watermelons are very fresh here; I can attest to that. It is particularly because of the watermelons found here that Toushirou-kun has developed a likeness for fresh, juicy fruits. That's the clue you and I are both searching for!"

Ichigo blinked. "…Uh…what?"

"You see, if they have no watermelons on their hands right now, it means that they have never stopped by Junrinan, so we can save time by not searching the whole of Junrinan for them. In fact, all the states here in the west and the south are well-known for their fresh fruits, whereas those in the east import their fruits from the west and the south." He looked up from the map, giving Ichigo a serious stare. The orange-haired shinigami-in-training did the exact same thing. "You know what this means, don't you, Ichigo-kun?"

"Ah," he replied, voice sharp and expressing his certainty about the matter. "Those stupid bastards must have taken Toushirou to the north."

"Yes. It would seem so."

Casting the wall a glare, Ichigo called after a slight pause, "Ukitake-san."

Ukitake blinked, but his seriousness remained. "What is it, Ichigo-kun?"

"Lemme ask you; do you have a carriage and some horses that can move damn bloody fast?"

**＜ブリーチ＞**

_Dark looming clouds, booming with a voice of thunder, swirled about in the blackened heavens that stretched out across the plains void of anything in existence, not even a single blade of the fresh emerald grass. The tears from the cotton wool in the skies fell, both rapidly and in great numbers. The cold droplets of condensed vapor batted against the soil and mud, as well as the small lithe body of the young pre-adolescent lying in the middle of the lonely plains._

"_Here," he heard a firm voice speak before something that resembled a human arm stretching out towards him came into his blurred view. "Take my hand."_

_The slightly conscious child blinked, but his vision did not clear up. And he had a gut feeling that the helping hand was not a trick of the fog unlike those seven other hallucinations before it. "…Who…?"_

"_Hey, look, I can't just let you die here. C'mon, get up."_

_It was like as if his word of 'who' had been spoken, yet had not at the same time. Had it been his own mind he was hearing, those suppressed cries of the other's identity ringing in his head that he thought that he had heard himself ask?_

"_I…"_

"_Oi, shut up. You'll only waste more of your energy, y'know."_

_Oh…So he __**did **__say something. Just that whoever it was didn't bother to answer…_

"_Ok, we're here."_

_Here? Here where?_

_He could've had sworn that he was in the lonely plains just now…_

"_Aw shoot, my dad's calling me. Be right back, m'kay?"_

_The near-fainting adolescent felt his hand moving up, trembling as he did, and words escaped his mouth as quickly as his breath did. "Wait…Tell me…Who…who are you…?"_

"_Like I said, I'll be back soon. I'll tell ya later!"_

_Before he said anything else, the stranger had taken off, not even giving the person he just saved a chance to speak further._

'…_Who are you…?'_

**＜ブリーチ＞**

The orange-haired teenager muttered a curse under his breath as he kicked the wooden wheel gone loose. Black kimono totally drenched with the rainwater that fell mercilessly upon his build, Kurosaki Ichigo shook his head like a dog as if in a poor attempt to get rid of whatever rain that had washed his hair for him before he knelt down and tried to get the wheel in tight just like what he did in the last thirty minutes. The horses standing at the front tilted their heads towards the grassy grounds, unable to resist their instinctive temptations to get a few munches every now and then. You had to admit; even for a horse, it was pretty boring to see your rider do the same thing for half an hour straight.

Finally the trainee sighed in defeat, getting up from his kneeling position and began stretching some of his lazy muscles. He rushed towards the front and (impatiently) tugged the ropes off the horses' necks. Giving the carriage one final kick that caused it to fall sideways, Ichigo leapt onto one of the horses' backs. He commanded for it to move, and it did without defiance.

It had been a few hours since he left his 'comfort zone' – like as if Ishida was going to miss him, but what the heck – and truth be said, Ichigo couldn't help but feel like crap. He wanted to set off to the north at once and Ukitake, being the ever so worried father of the missing _koushi_, gave him the required nod of the head, but his instructors were being hella bastards; they thought he was lying about the _koutei _appointing him as the person responsible for bringing the missing prince back in one piece and gave him extra physical training as punishment. It wasn't until Ukitake was informed of the matter did they cower and admit that they were at fault before they instantly asked of Ichigo to go straight away. The other thing was Ishida. For some reason he couldn't explain, the spectacled rival of his was unwilling to get off his back – when it should be the other way around – and was utterly annoying him with his maaaaarvelous speech of strategies and tactics and the what not.

Yeah right.

Like _**Ichigo **_needed to know some shit thing called strategy when it comes to rescuing a royalty from the hands of bloody bastards.

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"Meh, meh, he still ain't eatin'! Afte' six days too! Ain't that amazin'?"

The grinning figure's comment only made his companion smirk a little. "We'll only know if he is really worth kidnapping when he shows us what he has in store for us. The child needs to show us the high naiatsu everyone says he possesses before the master does anything else."

"Ah, ah, I know 'dat. I mean…" the albino glanced at the unconscious figure of the white-haired _koushi _lying before them, kept behind bars. "…for 'im ta' be able ta' still be alive afte' six days…wi'dout food and even a little sip o' water…'dat should be enough to keep 'da master happy, no?"

His comrade looked away before stealing a glance at the child. "Well, you always have a way when it comes to dealing with prisoners of high naiatsu…Gin."

"_Ara…_What a nice compliment from ya…Aizen-sama."

Aizen Sousuke grinned, showing his teeth. "And please, Gin, when were we so formal with each other? Just Aizen will do."

Ichimaru Gin's smile widened. "Wha'ever ya say, Aizen."

**＜ブリーチ＞**

Grunt. Grunt. Grunt.

Sigh.

Ichigo brushed the beads of sweat trickling down from his forehead with yet one more huff. The blazing heat from the sun was taking its toll on him; he was getting a headache he couldn't shrug off, he felt like he was burning up, and…since when every single citizen in Zaraki had an identical twin?

Being someone from the poor state that hadn't been governed at all, he should be used to _**this **_by now but…who would've had thought that spending only merely a week or so in Karakura Capital would cause such a big turnabout? Well, at least the sun wasn't as exposed there, with all the houses and trees and all. It was easy to adapt to the weather changes there, but he had no idea that his adapting skills were this good. So good that he totally forgot how damnably hot Zaraki (the state, not the person) could get.

"…Stupid heatstroke."

**＜ブリーチ＞**

"_Hey, here."_

_The white-haired child blinked confusedly, but accepted the…bowl…of water anyway. Strange, how poorly the people lived here; from where he came from, they were using civilised items like cups, for example. "…Thanks."_

"…_So?"_

"_So…what?"_

"_So why aren't you drinking it? C'mon, it's not like you're saliva-conscious…are you?"_

_The somewhat disgusted boy stared at the ragged edges of the bowl (that was made from the husk of a coconut shell, but of course his 'savior' didn't tell him that), pondering about exactly how many people drank from this oddly-shaped bowl. Glancing his savior suspiciously, he looked back at the fibrous husk before sighing and gulping the liquid of life down. It was awfully refreshing. Awfully._

"_You feeling better?" When the slightly lethargic child nodded, the other grinned from ear to ear like an idiot. "Oh good, I thought you were gonna die out there. Well, that's how Zaraki's like, anyway…a lot of my people fall sick here coz of the stupid heat."_

"_Sick?" Teal orbs rolled to the left as if in thought before rolling back. "Don't you have physicians here that help you control the number of people falling sick?"_

_The other shrugged. "Dunno. We have a small clinic; my dad's a doctor there. Anyway, you feeling any better?"_

"…_You just asked that."_

"_Did I? Oh, ok, just so you know, a lot of my people fall sick here coz of the stupid heat too."_

"…_You just said that too."_

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A/N: I added in flashbacks in a lousy attempt to make it longer. For some reason I seriously can't explain, I can't find the inspiration to make chapters longer as they are now. I have the plot all ready; it's just the length and the content of the chapters I'm worried about. -sigh-

…The good news is…well…I have more inspiration for future stories! XDD (Ok, that is lame. You can just ignore that)

_Next chapter: Ichigo turns to his last (and only) hope – his family. From them, there's a chance that he might be able to get some clues as to where his favorite little koushi might be, and if that's the case, it'll make things a whole lot easier and better too. Meanwhile, the thick naiatsu a subconscious Hitsugaya is emitting triggers weather complications in the entire state of Zaraki, and it seems the kidnappers want something more than just the throne after witnessing how devastating the weather manipulation can get…_


	8. Let the Rain Fall

Author's Note: …Riiiight…so it's been really long…I apologise for laggy updates (blame school) and the crappy quality of work. It's just that…well, I've been really busy tackling tests and producing outstanding results (I think I'm gonna fail geography…sniff), since I really need to buck up, and that has caused a plummeting in the update time…and I've got my hands full, too. Trilogy and all.

Well, I'm just gonna have to find some way to get over this, I guess. In the meantime…enjoy the chapter! (While you can, that is, with the quality being crappy and all)

Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.

* * *

Scroll 8 – Let the Rain Fall

The world, dull and blank, stretched to a never-ending blanket across his vision, if he was even awake in the first place.

The air, intense, was choking him, with the atmosphere hung thick like an encyclopedia, and sharp like a blade.

It was cold. Very cold. So cold that the iciness had sunk into his bones and chilled him from the inside out. Yet, he felt that the stinging coldness could be more of…an ally, rather than a foe. The doubtfulness filled his being, however, when something suddenly made its appearance in whatever world he was in. The ground beneath him trembled, the coldness seeping in more than before, and the silence was disrupted by a string of muffled roars.

And then he, too, roared.

_**--OnKK8--**_

Kurosaki Ichigo looked up from the ground, gluing his eyes to the hills with a frown etched on his features. The scream – cry, rather – pierced through the air, ringing throughout the entire village, and becoming the centre of attention of everyone. "…Did you hear that?"

"Well, of course I did! What, you thought your old man became deaf while you were away?! Ohh, Ichigo, I thought you never caaaaaaared!!"

The orange-haired shinigami trainee turned his attention to his lunatic of a father, giving him a long, hard stare. "…I never did. I was really hoping you were deaf and-oi, oi! No, get away from-!"

**Bam**

Karin blankly stared at the only two males of the family getting into a dog fight, rolling about the floor like a ball and dust gathering at every single corner of the hut. She sighed in defeat and shrugged the matter off, resuming her drink of pure mountain dew that Yuzu took so much trouble to get. Speaking of Yuzu, she was currently freaking out at the actions of her father and brother, who didn't seem to be ready to shove their childish alter-egos into a cage in their subconscious or something (well, their father was an exception to that, of course; he's childish twenty-four seven).

"Ichi-nii! _Otou-san! _Please stop fighting!" cried a frantic housewife-like Yuzu, who was even more panicked when the males of the Kurosaki family refused to listen to her. "Karin-chan, help me persuade them to stop!"

Karin merely stared at her twin sister before sighing and getting off her seat. "You guys are…" Kick. "_**…annoying me!!**_"

For the next few moments, Isshin was grabbing his problem area and Ichigo, his sore arm.

After which, Ichigo settled back down on the wooden chair he was sitting on earlier, and rested his elbow on the table. Isshin sat across him and looked at him with a sneaky grin which made his children uneasy upon setting their eyes on that grin. Yuzu instantly went ahead to prepare dinner, while Karin went out of the hut to play with her coconut, and Ichigo raised an eyebrow at his sly old man, as if asking 'what the hell are you grinning about?' and then diverted his attention away, looking at the high mountains instead.

Isshin watched his movements, and chuckled to himself a bit as he leaned back, placing a foot on the edge of the table, tilting himself back and forth. "You know, Ichigo, those mountains remind me of me and Masaki when we were younger." Now **that **caught Ichigo's attention again. "Whenever we had a date, we'd go up to the mountains and look at the fantastic view from above, enjoying the cool breeze. I'd wrap my arms around Masaki…telling her how much I love her…and we would…"

Isshin paused to make sloppy kissing sounds which sent the chills up Ichigo's spine. "O-oi, you crazy old man! Stop doing all those weird kissy sounds; you're giving me the damned goose bumps! Geez…"

"Eh?" the Kurosaki breadwinner stared at his son before climbing onto the tabletop to get nearer to him, scaring the daylights out of his orange-haired boy. "Could it be…" he began, eyes sparkling with joy. "…that Ichigo wants to know how to ask someone out on a date?"

Pause.

"HAAAAAAH!?"

"Oh, you do! You do! Ichigoooooooooooo, you make your father soooooooo proud!!"

"Hey, hey, don't you dare come hugging me…Oi! Get off! Get off!!"

A flustered Ichigo tried every possible method to get his father off of him, but his efforts all turned out futile.

_**--OnKK8--**_

"Ne, it's time ta' wake up, koushi-kun." No response whatsoever came from the subconscious prince lying in front of him. He sighed, perpetual grin on his face like nothing bad ever happened to him. "Ain't good ta' yer body if ya gonna lie down 'dere all day an' not eatin' or drinkin'. Ya need ta' take care o' yerself, ya know."

The white-haired koushi stirred a little, fingers curling into a fist. His brows strained to meet as his eyelids kept fluttering open and close, vision blurry and distorted. He strained to speak, but only air came out in the form of a raspy sigh as his dry, cracked lips moved up and down. The metallic taste of blood lingered in his mouth, and his throat was burning like hell. Hitsugaya Toushirou felt like crap; heck, he felt worse than crap. He never fell sick unless he wanted to, and he certainly didn't want to fall sick at a time like this.

From what he could tell, he was probably dehydrated for a week or so, and starved for about the same amount of time. It was definitely not favourable in his situation, especially since he felt like he had screamed his lungs out and damaged his vocal chords so bad that he lost his voice. A choked cough escaped his mouth as he struggled to get up into a sitting position, but found that he had no energy to. The figure behind him chuckled sinisterly, making him narrow his eyes to thin slits, his voice box rumbling with a growl (he didn't know he could growl like that).

"_Yare yare, _looks like I made lil' koushi angry," Ichimaru snickered, grin so wide it almost touched his ears. "It's gott'n colder in here, ne? Wonder if 'da master wanted that kinda result, after locking ya up 'ere for so long."

"…o…" Hitsugaya coughed, rubbing his burning chest. "…Who…are you…? …hy…Why have you…locked me in here…?"

"Ah, ah, if ya ask questions like 'dat, ya ain't gonna get yer food an' water," the silver-haired man warned, waving a finger. "Now 'dat yer finally awake, I'll just hafta tell my master about 'dis. I'm sure he'll be very happy, won't he?"

The white-haired prince stared at the stranger who chuckled once more as he slowly walked away out of the room, closing the door behind him. He sat, leaning against the wall, and closed his eyes, resisting the urge to let out another roar.

_**--OnKK8--**_

"It's gonna rain."

Ichimaru allowed the toothy smirk find its way up to his features as he tilted his head and placed his hand above his eyes as if saluting the darkened heavens. The sky began speaking in the language of thunder before the speaking turned into yelling. The silver-haired man only smiled more when the sky expressed its anger by sending a lightning bolt towards him, but it missed. The thunders boomed, more loudly than before.

"A thunderstorm…eh?" he mumbled to himself amusedly, repositioning his head back to normal, before he walked away from the prison a certain white-haired prince was locked in, eyelids revealing sickly lime green orbs beneath. His grin widened even further. "Mah, mah…looks like a storms'a brewin', eh, koushi-han?"

Thunders boomed, lightning bolts flashed, and a roar so distant yet so near; all in one package.

"Now, now, master won't be pleased if he sees ya like 'dis, ya know." He stopped, and watched a lone tree beside him get barbequed by a lightning bolt. The instant it struck, sweat drops rolled down the fox-like man's forehead, and he brushed them off in a casual wipe as if nothing had happened. "Phoo. 'Dat was pretty close, don'cha think?" the creepy man asked no one in particular. "Wouldn't 'ave wanted 'dat thing ta' hit me, would I? Then 'dere ain't no way I could tell my lords 'bout what I saw."

He paused, and left the hills, taking one slow step at a time.

"Things are gonna get inter'sting."

_**--OnKK8--**_

Ichigo growled. He was pissed. He was downright pissed. No, not because he was frustrated that he still hadn't found that ice prince yet – hell, he had already spent enough quality time with his negative emotions about that matter – and no, it was not because of the extremely hot weather – though it would be nice if it rained now (even though it was impossible), since there were dark clouds looming over the area for the past, oh, I don't know, three hours and not a single drop of rain came to the ground – but the orange-haired strawberry was pissed because…

…his father was using him as a chair.

Anger veins popped from every single part of his forehead. It wasn't just a chair; it was a chair-cum-pillow-cum-bolster-cum-plushie-cum-maid. His father had gotten drunk – again – after going out to the old town bar with his friends – again – and returned with a sluggish behavior and slurring words, jumping with euphoria whenever he set his sights on his precious daughters – again – before he whooped with excitement and insanity and hurled himself towards his poor little Ichigo, hugging and mumbling to him in baby-coo – not again.

Ever since, Ichigo had been pinned to the ground by his now drunk lunatic of a father, hugged countless of times and spoken to childishly umpteen times. Amongst the rush of words, he could only pick out the terms 'pillow' and 'plushie' since they were used the most often. And whenever he heard those terms, he'd get into a fit and think up evil ways to sober Isshin up but to no avail (he even tried kicking him in the shins but not even that was enough).

At last, the simple yet oldest method came to save his life and pride, as Karin trotted over with a bucket of water fetched from the river, and poured the bucket over the males of the Kurosaki family. Isshin sat up like a dog, scratching his head in confusion. "…Where am I?"

Another vein popped. "You're at home, you lousy drunkard!" Karin yelled at the top of her voice. She gave the sober Kurosaki a slap across the cheek and grabbed him by the collar, shaking him awake. "Snap out of it! Geez, the next time you want to go drinking, stop drinking in huge amounts!" she continued reprimanding. "And when you're finally awake, go take a bath; you reek of alcohol!"

As Karin released her tight hold of her father's rags, she scowled some more and ran to the kitchen, offering to help Yuzu do the dishes. Isshin fell on his butt, turning to face Ichigo with a pout, which scared the shit out of the orange-haired shinigami trainee. Isshin stuck his lower lip out and moved it up and down as if in a trembling, whimpering motion, and made a puppy dog expression. "Ichigo…sniff, does, does Karin haaaaaate me?"

Sweat drop. "Uh…"

"Does, does, does she hate me? Her father?"

Another sweat drop. "Uh…"

"Tell me she loves me! Tell me she loooooves me! Because I'm her father and I love her! I shower all my blessings and love upon her! Awwwww…what if she hates me…"

As Isshin carried on with his pointless rambling, his orange-haired son snuck out of the hut with three sweat drops and dashed out into the open, far away from his house. He panted; it was gonna take some time before he would be willing (and sane enough) to return to the madhouse. In the meantime, he'd probably go ahead to travel about in the old village to see if anything new came up.

That would most likely not be the case, since it **was **the Zaraki state in the end, but a little walk wouldn't hurt…would it?

"Oh…it's raining?" Ichigo blinked. "Wait. It's raining. **Rain.ing."**

He couldn't believe it; it was raining. And heavily, at that.

But it was listed was one of the Top Ten Most Impossible Things to Happen list, with it being ranked second, making rain in Zaraki the second most impossible thing to ever happen in the entire country of Tamashii. Due to some complications in the geographical location which happened centuries ago, Zaraki had become well-known for its undeniably hot climate throughout; it was what some people would call a favourable living environment, despite being a desert-like state.

Never, **never**, did it ever occur once that rain should fall to the soil of the state of Zaraki.

Ichigo looked at the startled expressions of the villagers while the children happily played around with the mud. It wasn't long before a hint of orange disrupted his vision. He brushed his wet bangs away from his eyes in irritation, obviously not enjoying his bath with his clothes still on. The skies continued screaming in thunder and lightning as the clouds began getting dyed a darker shade of grey.

He ran past the villagers who were rushing back home. The various stall owners had made huge losses, he realized; they were stomping their feet with a 'tsk' for their worst luck as they abandoned their stalls, dashing for shelter. He, on the other hand, was not looking for a place to shield himself from the batting rain drops. Oh no. He was heading for the most likely place to find what he was looking for.

As Kurosaki Ichigo made a run for the mountains, the serpentine clouds of darkness coiled themselves around the peak, while an awakened Hitsugaya clutched his chest, holding back a roar from erupting, before he fell back to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

_Next chapter: Ichigo finally finds his little ice prince, but is it too late when Aizen and Ichimaru are there to stop him from taking their prized possession away? It's two against one; two experienced shinigami against one trainee. And in the shadows, a sneaky figure snatches Hitsugaya away, while Ichigo is prevented from giving chase. What will happen to the crown prince and the shinigami trainee now, when Ichigo is imprisoned and Hitsugaya, slipping away from consciousness?_


	9. Foe in the Shadows

_Author's Note: Holy crap, I'm sooo sorry for not updating in some time…I didn't know how to go about writing this chapter and the trilogy, so it had to take some time before I could settle them…gomen…I had a lot of projects to complete too, so everything's been really messed up; I felt like puking while doing those damned projects…almost did, too._

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything concerning Bleach._

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Scroll 9 – Foe in the Shadows

No one had ever heard of rain descending upon the barely fertile soil of the Zaraki state, especially since it was humid throughout the year, and almost comparable to a desert in the middle of nowhere. Zaraki citizens had to suffer the pain of walking on the steaming soil barefooted, setting up their small but important businesses of selling water and ice, as well as fresh fruits and vegetables, imported from the capital, and return home only to first soak their feet in the ice they purchased, peeling the skin off the soles of their feet. To them, rain was nothing but impossible to get, and something that the children wished for everyday.

Until now, that is.

Had it been a miracle? The answer as clear as day, with the sunlight shining right into their eyes and blinding them; of **course **it was a miracle. Otherwise, why the heck would it be raining on soil that had been forsaken by the heavens? The soil which could barely host the roots of wilting flowers and crops had allowed the tears of heaven seep into it, breathing life into the plants on their deathbeds. The flowers were blooming right in front of them, stems upright and leaves holding onto the dew as if it were its life.

And of course, one could not deny the existence of the pure white **snow **replacing the showers soon after, only to melt away into its liquefied state as it descended upon the earth. The tired smiles of men and women dawned upon their faces as they held their hands up and rubbed the white substance in their hands, feeling the mix of rain and snow in their palms and shedding tears of joy to accompany their watery companions; children of no older than five ran around the town and celebrated with a game of catch or two, their smiles and giggles ringing throughout the villages, spreading the good news around.

Only one person in the entire state of Zaraki knew that this was nothing to be joyous about, but rather, it was a time for them to flee before anything ugly came up.

"Oh look, look at what the heavens have given us!"

"Rain…it's true. It's finally raining in Zaraki!"

"It's a miracle…a miracle!"

Ichigo gave a 'che' as he sprinted past the unsuspecting villagers, slipping on the muddy waters and making a hurried trek up the hill of which the peak had held the serpentine clouds of thunder and grayness. He leapt over the edge and landed on his soiled feet, continuing the wet journey up the hill. Cries of ecstasy filled his hometown; he looked down at the poor townspeople, unknowing what were to happen if they knew of the horrible truth behind the source of water, before grinding his teeth and hastening.

_Trust me, guys…this ain't a miracle._

--_Scroll 09--_

"Ne neh…I think I can feel someone headin' our way," the silver-haired fox mentioned the presence of someone trekking up their current hideout. He turned and faced the backs of his companions, perpetual grin widening at the thought of piercing through the sword through the invader's chest; how fun that would be for them all. "Don'cha think we should go an' say hi ta' 'im? I'm sure he'll feel very welcom'd, ya know."

The chestnut-haired man smiled along with his comrade; indeed, someone with true potential was heading their way, moving at quite a speed for someone who had yet to undergo the real training at whatever training academy he was attending. He could tell, that spectacled man, that this person, despite being a complete newbie to dangerous battles, was not to be trifled with. Yet.

Aizen glanced through the opening of their specially allocated office built near the edge of the hill; a blur of black and orange was quickly moving closer and closer towards sight. He motioned to his partners to accompany him, to which they did, and left the room with a sadistic smile. The familiar weight of his spectacles became nil as the glass shattered in his grip, falling to the rocky ground in nothing but millions of pieces.

"We shall welcome him as you say, Gin."

A widening smile dawned upon both of their lips while their silent companion followed their steps towards the peak plainly, expression unchanging throughout their short trip. The brown-haired leader of the group held onto the cool, wet metal handle of the wooden door, pushing it downwards and pushing the door open with a creak, stepping onto the stone tiles. The silent tanned man closed the door behind him, following his partners soon after. Silence, yet batting of raindrops and words of thunder diving into the silence and ripping it apart with their claws, was the mere basic presence in the room.

The grins grew as yet another vocabulary to add to the list of thunder language was spoken; the door behind leaving halves and small pieces of wood sprawled all over the rock tiles; the metallic ring of the handle being restrained to the earth by the force of gravity. A mere creak, and then the spurt of crimson leaving drops all over the tiles as the trail ascended into the air; the perpetrator gave a low growl as he leaned against the stone wall, wiping the trickling blood from his lips with the back of his hand.

A raging cry ripped from his vocal chords echoed in the stone prison as he sprinted towards his enemies and thrust an extremely tense fist towards the brown-haired man, only to have his knuckles slit open by the invasion of a dagger held in the loose, careless grip of the silver-haired man standing next to the (ugly) bastard. Drops of crimson body fluid stained the stone tiles seemingly with polka-dots while the orange-haired trainee stood at his spot, panting and glowering at the allegedly sophisticated person whom he shouldn't care about in the first place. However he was dying to get rid of these three assholes who trapped Toushirou in that hell he wasn't that much of an idiot to realize that he was not about to fulfill his mission's objectives by his anticipated time.

He stole a glance over at the bars, eyeing the darkness with a stiffened arm. No one was taking any action; no one was even looking at what he was doing; no one said a thing at all. Uneasy silence settled in, camouflaging itself with the thunder and pelting rain. There was nothing penetrating from the vast darkness of the cells, nothing standing out in particular. The only living organism from within had been a mere ball of fur scurrying around, squeaking as it scrambled towards the hole dented in the corner. Ichigo glared at the group beside him; those bastards…had they known he was coming?

A tweak in his knuckles sounded as they cracked. He drew out both of his fists and sent them flying towards them just as he realized he had been thrusting nothing but the cool air. Another twitch from his back; no, instead of shivering in the unfamiliar breezes aroused from the rain, he was burning up with searing eyes whenever he blinked. Blackness was eating away at his vision, but he wasn't about to give up the fight just yet. They hadn't even said a single damned thing since he arrived there, and the treasure he was supposed to find at the end of his venture back to his hometown was not where the x on the map had shown, unless the high probability of them hiding the treasure chest which revealed itself had been proved right all along.

He leapt away from the blade that had dug into his flesh for the second time in the row and reached out to grab the bloody knife. Instead of having the weight landing on his palm, sharply searing pain was what he had received. For the third time, he had let his guard down, and he was about to detest himself for being overly careless. This could not go on; he had to know where Toushirou was, otherwise he wouldn't know what the consequences were to be if he had been taken away from him again. All he had knowledge of, would be the fact that it would suck to the depths of hell.

And it was already crappy enough that his enemies at hand seemed to be able to predict every single of his attack.

"_Ara_, what's wrong, shinigami-trainee-san? Tired, eh?" Ichimaru chuckled, dragging along the tip of the blade of his personal dagger along the orange-haired shinigami-trainee's arm. A fine line of crimson followed the path of the blade before it branched out like rivers of the main river. "Ya must be wonderin' what we must 'ave done ta' ya precious koushi-han."

Ichigo swore under his breath while he dodged the arrowheads aimed by the tanned guy with sunglasses (that made him look a bit like Renji), but it had been a mistake on his part; what welcomed him next was the rain of stalagmites which ripped the back of his shinigami training school uniform and shredded his sleeves into nothing, leaving the wearer at a horrifying disadvantage. Even then, he had doubts about their attack patterns; there had to be a way he could squeeze the answer out of them and escape without having the need to lose the part of the cloth covering his problem area.

He skied across the room, grabbed the unlit torch hung at the side of where the door used to stand, and made a small u-turn, moving against the law of gravity while sticking the end of the torch out. Beneath him just had to be the creepy smiling guy bringing his little but helluva painful dagger up in the air, waving it around continuously as if awaiting to give his stomach a nice, warm hug. Yeah right, like he wanted that in the first place.

Closing his eyes shut, he visualized the two possible outcomes of his actions; one of which had him ecstatic while stabbing the bastards with the torch like some madman on the loose, but not knowing where to head from there since he could get no information from the dead guys (he was just that happy to be able to kill them); another which wasn't exactly what one would call a pleasant experience, or the ending to the fairy tale age he was living in right then. Not like the fox-like guy stab him, have all the arrowheads and stalagmites kissing his body, and start foaming at the mouth while lying on a puddle of his own blood, and then pass that off as the perfect ending to this (retarded) tale. Oh yeah, nice. He was all ready to let that intent to kill burn to five hundred degrees C and stab just about anyone who said 'happily ever after' in front of his face while giving him a gay smile.

Not. Gonna. Happen.

…Speaking of burn, what was this searing sensation in his palms? His wounds caused by that ridiculously short butter knife-like thing? Hmm…well, chances of those hurting were as close to nil. Not like he was bleeding excessively from such small slits anyway. So if it hadn't been the wounds at fault, then how could one explain why he felt like he was holding onto something like a ball of fire burning through his skin? And what were these…horrid screeches ringing in his ears that pierced through the air like the dagger the albino wielded?

An eyelid fluttered open, followed by another. He watched, and stared. It wasn't a ball of fire in his hands; just the same old wooden torch which seemed like a lame excuse for a weapon he grabbed out of his rashness. But three bodies had been sprawled out on the floor, hands to their throats and fingers pressed against the back of their necks; lips dyeing a deep violet hue with a taint of black, and white bubbles flowing out of the edges of those sickening lips of theirs, staining the charred grounds with small patches of white. Ichigo grabbed his chest; the sight, although enlightening to one's soul, was, plainly speaking, horrifying to anyone who had never seen the outcomes of literally setting someone's body on fire.

Despite the fact that their bodies were not charred to the bones, he could tell from personal experience that the burns they were suffering from was the third degree burn, their clothes burned to crisp and parts of their bodies to spots of black. Haemorrhaging of the soles of their feet and, for a few, from where their temples began, as well as the lack of oxygen they were receiving, told him that the burns had already been slightly infected with the dirt present in the smoke. Why he was not being affected, he hadn't a clue, but he had to get those guys – one of those guys, at least – to talk. The one lying the furthest from the rest had been the weird sunglasses dude near the parts of the broken door, and that had been the one he sought.

He tilted the quiet man's head; slight bleeding from the head, most likely due to a concussion. The trainee smudged the blood away from the door and from the casualty's eyes, only to have his wrist tightened by someone's grasp. "…You stop…doing injustice to…the people of this country…" Ichigo blinked confusedly, but ignored the man's words and took them as crap, resuming the wiping of blood. "You do not…need to tend to me…I do not…allow sinners…to wipe the eyes that…see nothing but…the path of justice…"

"…Is that a metaphor or something?"

Ichigo was ignored.

"The prince you are looking for…I will not reveal his…location…" Tousen gasped out, slapping the hand away from his face after a few attempts at swatting at the smoke. "The one who…taught me the ways of justice…had already taken…him to somewhere…where people like you who do…not walk down the path of justice…can never find…"

Ichigo snarled at the dying man, "If you don't tell me where the hell Toushirou is, then I'll leave you here to die."

"Then…so be it…Being able to serve…the man of justice…had been a great honour…to me…" And with the last consonant spoken, at barely above a hushed whisper, Tousen's head hung limply to his side, a crimson fluid trickling from the mouth which spoke of nothing but justice. The orange-haired trainee stared before closing his eyes. He stood with his feet situated firmly to the blackened ground, eyed the two men who had been burned beyond survival, and turned away, pushing the soles of his feet as he made his trip back to the earth below; the tears of heaven were still pouring down mercilessly.

--_Scroll 09--_

Far from anywhere, he said. Far from the people who were looking for him, he said.

So had the world he had been taken to been originally filled with darkness? Upon his awakening, he remembered, there was barely even the slightest flicker of light he could catch with his vision. Have I gone blind, he wondered to himself while he wandered about in the blackness; there was no definite ground, no definite air. He hadn't the slightest hint of where he was going; it was something within him, which had somehow been triggered upon his awakening in this strange new world, which was leading him towards wherever it intended to bring him to. He had to oblige. For some reason that he himself couldn't explain, he had to. It was like a force was acting on him, telling him that this was where he should be going if he wanted to be let out of his cage and have a taste of the bright world outside.

He had his doubts, of course, of whether he was truly awake or if he was still in his dream – or nightmare. From where, in his recollections, that he had been stopped off, he was in a world of not black, but of white. Pure white descending from the clouds of equal whiteness in the blanket dyed ice blue, gently melting in his hands as he reached out to hold it; a muffler reaching out to pull him by the shoulder, a voice telling him to stop whatever he was doing before fine, dainty lips curled to a faint smile; a distant roar acting as the true mystery of the white world, as well as a nasty awakening. But throughout it all, he had agreed to doing whatever the voices and roars were instructing him to do.

And yet, the roar was telling him, it would not be wise to carry on any further. But his legs wouldn't seem to listen to his heart. A harsh energy forcing him to continue walking was acting as if it was pressing against his entire being, manipulating him to do its bidding until it wanted to stop. It didn't seem like the force was about to stop until it would be able to force him to wherever it wanted him to head towards. At once a ray of light beamed through the shadows; he narrowed his eyes, but did nothing else. The presence was still egging him on, a voice belonging to neither the voice in his dreams nor the roar in the distance telling him to grab at the light, and should he fail to never stop, and continue grabbing for it. Against that voice had been the roar which was soon overpowered, and he knew that he, too, would be overwhelmed by the influence of whatever was behind him.

The young prince bit his lip; he didn't know darkness could hurt.

* * *

_A/N: And this is the climax of the story. From here on, there wouldn't be as much humour as before, but I'll try to squeeze some in like what I did in this chapter (this chapter wasn't even supposed to be funny). As you can see, this story isn't some ordinary oh-i-am-the-wondrous-knight-who-will-save-the-trapped-princess kinda thing; it's got some fantasy added to the concoction. Ahh. But the most interesting part has yet to come. -smirks at thought-_

_Next chapter: With three of the captains dead by Ichigo's mysterious flames, Ichigo is branded as a murderer and treated like a fugitive. Ukitake sneaks out of the palace in order to see the homeless adolescent, agreeing to help find out what exactly is wrong with him. And on his way back to the palace…he sees his son lying in the middle of road, unconscious…and horrifically injured beyond restoration. Just who is this cold-blooded man out to assassinate the young prince?_


	10. The Longshot Blood Range

_Author's Note: I was thinking of…shortening the story a bit. I'm cutting out an arc which isn't very important to the story, and trying to speed up the updates a little, to which I'm a great failure at. I'm so sorry. And...yes, the title of the chapter was completely random. Dialogue is...really needed here, so I tried adding in bits and pieces of descriptions, but at times I may need to drfit off, so I apologise for that. Gah, I'm apologising for everything, really._

_Disclaimer: Read previous chapters._

* * *

**Ore no Koori Koushi 10**

**The Long-shot Blood Range**

* * *

"Did you say...murdered?"

Kiyone bit her lower lip; she attempted to elbow Sentarou in the rib, muttering something under her breath. His hand moved and gripped onto her fingers so tightly they turned ghostly white. She hissed softly, muttering something else in return, and he immediately let go. The blonde rubbed the tears from her eyes and bowed lower. "Hai, Ukitake-koutei. We found the bodies of Aizen-taichou, Ichimaru-taichou and Tousen-taichou in Zaraki. The people all say that it was the shinigami trainee, Kurosaki Ichigo, who went up the hill but they never saw him since, so we don't really know what happened, but Unohana-taichou suspects that it's arson...Ukitake-koutei?"

The sickly emperor held his mouth with the embroidery handkerchief and gave a raspy cough while thanking and dismissing his two royal servants for their time. They did not budge. As his fit died down, he flashed them a smile to which they didn't know how to react; relieved, or worried. Relieved, because yet another of his relapse had gone over as quickly as it came, and he did not seem to be in danger of another to add on to the list. Worried, because he didn't seem to realise that blood was trickling down from a corner of his lips as he smiled. They decided to go with the worried part.

Noticing their deepened frown, Ukitake wondered where the problem lied, and figured it out the instant he landed his gaze on the once golden handkerchief with two mandarin ducks at the corner where they were apparently swimming on a crimson lake. He wiped the blood off his mouth, and folded the piece of used cloth nicely, setting it aside in the bin next to the table where the other handkerchiefs lied. It was a wonder that there was no ant infestation after all this while.

"At any rate, we need to give them a proper burial ceremony. After all, they have served Tamashii well," Ukitake spoke as if nothing happened in the midst of the few minutes earlier. He rose from his seat, grabbing a tattered robe that hung by the throne and fitted himself in it. Dusting himself, he tugged at the sides to make sure they were comfortable and resumed smiling. "I will be making a secret trip to Zaraki, so please prepare the carriage, and don't tell anyone about where I will be heading, is that understood?"

"U-Ukitake-koutei! You can't be serious!" Kiyone exclaimed, losing her calmness in just an instant.

"For once, I agree with the booger, koutei!" Sentarou followed, knocking the girl off her feet with a swish of his own. "You need to take care of your health, sir! We insist on following you - no, we insist that you stay in the palace and continue receiving treatment from Unohana-taichou! If there's anything you would like, koutei, let me go on your behalf!"

"Why you slimy..." his partner curled her fingers into a ball-like fist and gave him a punch on the head. "Ukitake-koutei, don't listen to him! I will do anything for you as long as you say the word, koutei! I shall be the one who will go on your behalf!"

"No, no, no!" Ukitake interrupted, sweat dropping from the temple of his forehead. He held his hands up, shaking them continuously. "You've got it all wrong, Kiyone, Sentarou. I'm not going there because I want to investigate the matter. I'm just going to check on a close friend of mine who lives there, that's all. I promise I won't be staying there for more than three days. Alright, make it two days, then."

Kiyone and Sentarou stared at each other solemnly, biting the lower of their lips while keeping their heads lowered. Two days would mean 48 hours, and 48 hours would mean that much time without them by his side...48 hours without the aid of medicine, without their care, without them having to brew it for him to consume. Was he going to stay out for that long? Would he be able to hold out for that long without medicine at all? Their koutei, the one who so kindly took them into the palace, was prone to having his illness act up. The medicine would suppress it, only for the time being. The most he could hold out was, as they could understand after serving him for so long, a mere one day.

Unohana-taichou had specifically instructed them not to leave him alone for too often; they had done so, prepared the medicine just in case of an emergency. Too many a time had their master fallen to the ground, not responding to their calls; too many a time had he spat out blood while in the eyes of many, all of the people crowding around him and asking if he was all right. If this time, Ukitake-koutei were to go on his own...

"We'll go with you, koutei!" the two servants chorused. "We won't let you leave by yourself!"

"...Then, I suppose we all should get ready," Ukitake sighed, flashing them a true smile at last.

_-O-r-e-N-o-K-o-o-r-i-K-o-u-s-h-i-10-T-h-e-L-o-n-g-s-h-o-t-B-l-o-o-d-R-a-n-g-e-_

Murdered...was it? That those few captains were caught in an assassin's fire? For whatever the reason there could be, Ukitake could come up with none of his own. Ichimaru Gin, man in his twenties, might've had been notorious for his particular ways of killing invaders that dared enter the palace grounds; he would first tie them up, ask a bit of questions, and then let them go after cutting them up for a bit. When asked, he would answer that he wanted them to lose a bit of blood before meeting with the next possible samurai on duty. Coincidentally, the next man had been Tousen Kaname, a man nearing his fortieth year. And just so coincidentally, that dark-skinned man had his own particular way of handling with intruders, albeit slightly different from how his colleague would normally do.

He heard so much, that the man was blind. He couldn't believe it at first, not after hearing that it was this blind man who could aim at the enemy in the chest so accurately, mentioning that if the intruder were still alive it'd mean Tousen missed his target: the heart. But one out of four chances proved fatal. Out of the four, three of it would go to the final person. Fifty-year-old Aizen Sousuke, popular amongst the majority of the girls in the sea of manly soldiers. Kind, thoughtful, and not to mention violent towards anyone who defied him.

Not to say that the perpetrators were under his direct command, but he would kill them off without mercy and without much of a reason. He'd always say it was because of his obligation as someone whose purpose was to protect the royal family, but Ukitake couldn't understand why Aizen would be so brutal. He's had three different consecutive ways of dealing with his opponents, of which the emperor had heard while inspecting the division Aizen was leading: one, he would slash the man's abdomen, leaving him to bleed for a while before moving onto two, stabbing his limbs to the floor. The final step was the most horrific.

The white-haired ruler coughed into yet another of his handkerchief, to find one drop of blood. Thankfully, it hadn't been a whole mess of it; he didn't bring any spares with him. With the mentioning of blood, sometimes in his younger parenting days when Toushirou hadn't been any older than six years, the poor child would come to his room, hands stained with the crimson liquid with a splat or two on his cheek. Ukitake would always panic, looking for any visible wounds on his son's body but was inquisitive when he found none. The next morning, a report would be lying finely on his desk, which read of the previous night's assassin's intrusion. The most common statement of all the reports, would be that the perpetrator died of blood loss.

Nightmares became the norm for his son.

With no one else to turn to, Toushirou chose to go to his father's room; but whatever he was doing awake in the most ungodly hours of the night, even he as his father was ashamed that he couldn't understand his own child. His Shirou didn't seem to want to talk about the past either, now that he was all grown out of the habit. Unohana, the royal family doctor, could only tell him that it was possible his son wasn't suffering from any health problems, but he just wanted to look for something. It stemmed from a source since his younger days, approximately a year before the blood trauma.

Ukitake narrowed his eyes. A year before Toushirou's sixth, it had been one of the darkest periods of his life as a father. It had been for a mere split second, just that one split second. But in the midst of that short a time period, the heir to his throne went missing right under his nose. They had been going around the states, visiting as he could remember. But on one fine afternoon, it turned out not to be so fine after all. Toushirou was gone. Just like he was now.

Worriedly, he tugged at the curtain of the carriage window, sticking his head out for a bit of fresh air. Instead, his coughing fit acted up and he scrambled for his handkerchief, covering his mouth with it and looked out again. That was fast. Already they were in the land where no rain fell. While it wasn't exactly where he was headed to, he was close. For some reason, it had felt as if time flew since he left the palace; Kusajishi was about as far from the palace as Zaraki, not to mention the two plots of land had so similar a climate that not even Ukitake himself could tell which was Kusajishi and which was Zaraki.

However, judging by how the cactus grew in the surroundings, he had a distinctive feeling that this was not his destination indeed. Beads of sweat rolled down his cheek, of which he wiped off with the back of his hand. It was steaming hot out here; how in the world could people like Kurosaki and Ishida survive in such a desert-like state and grow up to be so strong?

And there from the edge of the town, Ukitake spotted, a spike head of orange. Speak of the devil.

"Pull over!"

_-O-r-e-N-o-K-o-o-r-i-K-o-u-s-h-i-10-T-h-e-L-o-n-g-s-h-o-t-B-l-o-o-d-R-a-n-g-e-_

"Ahh, Ichigo-kun. What a small world, meeting you here," the cloaked man greeted, leaning against the curving wall of the cave while sitting by the crackling of blazes. "I was on my way to Zaraki to meet an old friend of mine. Didn't expect to bump into you in Kusajishi. So, how has the mission been going?"

Ichigo folded the rag he initially put on himself, setting it aside neatly by the fire. He waited, and watched the emperor as he took a sip of his brewed medicine before speaking, "Ukitake-san, I'm sure you know what happened in Zaraki, right?" Ukitake listened, but said nothing. "Yeah, I admit it, those guys died 'cuz of something I did...But I swear, I didn't want to kill them that early! I just wanted them to tell me where Toushirou was, that's all, but they died before they could."

"You mean, Aizen-taichou, Ichimaru-taichou and Tousen-taichou knew where my son was being held?" Ukitake pondered; had it been possible that his son's kidnapping was an inside job?

"You...didn't know that they were the ones who kidnapped Toushirou?" When he saw the widening of Ukitake's eyes, he groaned and scratched the back of his head. "It's just a guess, actually. But somehow, they knew I was coming and managed to tip their leader off, got away with Toushirou too. I was prepared to kill 'em, but I wanted them to tell me before they could go to hell. I dunno why but a fire broke out and killed them, and like I said, I dunno why, but I was untouched by the fire. It was weird, really. But I left anyway and continued looking for Toushirou. After that, though, word about those bastards' deaths got out and I've become public enemy number one, so I can't really go in search for him now."

Somewhere, in the midst of Ichigo's explanation, Ukitake had drifted off in his own chain of thoughts. The fire, just as Kiyone explained earlier in the day, was truly a plot to silence all of the occupants in the room. Just that for some odd reason, Kurosaki hadn't been affected by the flames. But then again, he didn't escape unscathed; there was an evident scar on his right palm, skin peeled and flesh exposed while the area around it had turned black. Whoever it was that set the room on fire, it must've had been someone who was connected to the prince's kidnapping as well as the three captains...if his hunch was right, that it was truly an inside job, then could it be...?

"Well, thank you for the information, Ichigo-kun," the emperor replied, taking one last gulp of the bitter liquid. He pressed the edge of the wooden bowl to his lips and painfully allowed it to travel down before placing it next to him. "I've always known you were innocent anyway. Before I return to the palace, I'll be sure to stop by your family's house to inform them of the mission. As for Toushirou...well, um...I trust you should be able to find him, but I'll make sure to issue a notice around the country to not get in your way if they see you looking for him. At the same time, I'll go check about the fire incident you told me about. I've probably heard of similar cases happening in the past, but this was the first time it actually killed somebody."

"Eh? Are you really okay with that?"

"Of course I am. I have a friend who likes going to the royal library a lot, so when I'm free I'll join him in the search." I'm always free anyway, he thought to himself while giving Ichigo an assured, warm-hearted smile.

The orange-haired shinigami trainee nodded, bidding his farewells to the white-haired ruler of the country when his servants insisted that he should leave since it would not do him any good if he were to sleep in a cave where there was barely any fresh air for him. Typical, he thought to himself, that they would restrain his movements by this much. But it was still better than nothing. At least he managed to find Kurosaki before any of the imperial guards could.

But this would mean he needed to get to Zaraki quicker than before; now that he knew of Ichigo's state, he was certain he couldn't lose anymore time than he already had by staying in the palace throughout the whole affair. There was no way he could be able to call himself an emperor if he first didn't know of exactly what happened in his kingdom.

At the same time, he would be able to dig up some possible clues as to where his son might be. According to Ichigo, he had been whisked away to who-knew-where for the second time; honestly, if Ukitake had said he wasn't worried, he'd be lying through his teeth. He could totally understand why a lot of powerthirsty people were aiming for Toushirou, but this was ridiculous. He'd rather be the one getting into the trouble, Hitsugaya had nothing to do with it. He was just born into the world this way, as a prince; it wasn't like he was going to take over the throne that soon, was he? Ukitake wasn't about to allow that to happen...it'd be equivalent to sending his own flesh and blood to his own death.

Lightning flashed across the darkened skies, illuminating the area.

...For some reason, the ride was unsteadier than usual. Perhaps it was because of the fact that they were at a terrain region, but then again, his trip was this bumpy from the beginning. He just didn't seem to realise it soon enough to know...or did he?

"U-Ukitake...koutei..."

"Yes, Sentarou? What is it?"

The lightning came for the second time as the carriage plunged to a stop.

"There's...someone who wants to see you..."

He found himself frowning more than usual; Kiyone sounded unusually petrified. This wasn't like her at all. Ukitake called for them to place the carriage to the ground, and they obeyed. He pushed the cloth away, stepping out into the shadows. Droplets of rain batted against his body as a flash chased away the shadows before his feet; a tuft of white hair was what he found, a pale hand oozing a stream of crimson, and the clothes...oh, the clothes were as tattered as tattered could be.

"...You're...!" The figure fell to his feet while yet another lightning gave Ukitake a second chance. Indeed, it was the unmistakable trademark hair of snow white, a wisp of it seemingly standing out by remaining stubbornly attached to his face. "Toushirou..." he whispered, falling to his knees while lifting the limp body into his lap, brushing away whatever blood his fingers could reach for.

"Oh, whatever happened to you?" the emperor father asked, not expecting a reply. He carried the young prince into his arms when a pang of suspicion struck him; something wasn't right about this. It wasn't that he wasn't glad that his son had been found, but...why was it that he had this horrid gut feeling that if it had been someone else who found him, the report wouldn't include 'found in one piece'...?

He shifted Toushirou's body closer; his foresight was spot-on. There was something missing, something very very horribly missing...and as much as he didn't want to know what, he would have to know sooner or later. It was best if he could know about it before sooner and before later.

Ukitake bit his lower lip, his fingers trembling while gripping every body part he could feel for in the darkness. His legs were intact, so he hoped, but there was a need for concern about his upper torso. There was his arm there, hanging limply while the blood started to mix with the rain; his right arm, to be exact. What he was missing...was going to be devastating to the boy if he were to wake up to find out about it. _Where...is his left arm? _Ukitake could not answer to his own question.

_Ukitake couldn't understand why Aizen would be so brutal. He's had three different consecutive ways of dealing with his opponents, of which the emperor had heard while inspecting the division Aizen was leading: one, he would slash the man's abdomen, leaving him to bleed for a while before moving onto two, stabbing his limbs to the floor. The final step was the most horrific._

And yet another, he glanced down. While the light lasted, he took a good, hard lookUkitake couldn't understand why Aizen would be so brutal. Looks like they needed to make a detour after all.

* * *

_Next chapter: Ichigo swears to kill whoever dared to harm Toushirou like that while Ukitake rushes back to the palace where he hoped Unohana could find some way to stop the bleeding. The doctor doesn't like what she finds out...and she certainly doesn't like how she finds the whole plot to kill the prince only to send him back just so suspicious. There could only be one person who would go this far to harm the prince...and Ukitake isn't surprised._


End file.
